PARIS (April 24): Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are leading in the official count of votes from the first round of France's presidential election with 46 million tallied so far, figures from the Interior Ministry showed on Monday.

With nearly all of France's 47 million strong electorate accounted for, the figures put Macron on 23.82 percent of votes and Le Pen on 21.58 percent, conservative Francois Fillon at 19.96 percent, and far-leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon on 19.49 percent.