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French Election: Fillon supports Macron in round two; Mélenchon silent

After conceding defeat, France’s conservative candidate François Fillon has endorsed the candidacy of Emmanuel Macron by calling his supporters to reject a nationalist Presidency. Fillon joined other politicians, concerned with the stability of France and the European Union, in asking voters to choose the centrist Emmanuel Macron over the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, after preliminary results showed the two will face off in the final round on May 7th. The official results will be declared on Wednesday. The socialist party candidate and incumbent ministers have openly called on voters to unite behind Macron against Le Pen.

However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, one of the top four candidates and the leader of the left-wing movement has stopped short of supporting any candidate for the round two. In the first round, he came fourth with 19.6 percent of the votes. In a press conference, he acknowledged the disappointing outcome by announcing that this is not the result he and his supporters were hoping for. He said that official results are not out yet but when it does on Wednesday, he will respect them and added that he has nothing more to say at this point. This is a stark contrast to his action in 2002 election when he vocally put a stand against the then Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of the Marine Le Pen.

Without the supporters of Mr. Mélenchon, who has also promised a referendum on the EU membership, the bid of Marine Le Pen is sure to meet a disappointing end.

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