Almost Half of Fillon, Melenchon Supporters to Vote for Macron in French Run-Off

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Half of the supporters of former presidential candidate from The Republicans' party Francois Fillon and 40 percent of those who voted for Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of left-wing political movement La France Insoumise (Unsubmissive France), intend to cast their ballot for independent candidate Emmanuel Macron in the upcoming presidential run-off, a fresh poll by Odoxa showed Friday.

The voting intention figures for Macron among Melenchon supporters dropped by 13 percent from the previous survey conducted Monday through Tuesday, while the number of those who intend to abstain from voting rose by 7 percent to 41 percent.

With regards to those French citizens who cast their ballots for Fillon in the first election round, 50 percent of this group plan to support Macron in the run-off, 21 percent will vote for right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen, and 29 percent intend to abstain.

In general, Macron is projected to win the second election round with 59 percent of vote, which is a four percent decrease from the previous poll.

On April 23, Macron and Le Pen emerged as the two top contenders in the first round of the election, and are set to face each other in the run-off on May 7. According to the French Interior Ministry, Macron won the first round with 24.01 percent of the votes, while Le Pen got 21.30 percent. Fillon finished third with 20.01 percent, while Melenchon received 19.58 percent.