French President Emmanuel Macron appears on track for re-election after defeating his rival, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, in preliminary polls on Sunday.
Le Pen conceded defeat but stressed that the unprecedented percentage of votes she received according to polls "is, in itself, a dazzling victory."
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"The ideas that we represent are reaching great heights," said Le Pen, whose extremist ideology and ties to the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin made these elections vital for the future of European politics.
If the projections are confirmed, Macron will be the first French president to be re-elected in 20 years;
the last was Jacques Chirac in 2002. But he will govern a divided nation and may struggle to maintain his party's parliamentary majority in legislative elections in June.
The Ministry of the Interior will announce the final result on Monday.
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Opinion polls put Macron some 10 percentage points ahead of Le Pen in voting intentions in the final days of the campaign, too close for comfort for a leader who constantly urged voters not to be complacent in the face of the threat of Le Pen's extreme right.
Five years ago, Macron won a landslide victory and became, at 39, the youngest president in French history.
This time the difference is likely to be much smaller: pollsters Opinionway, Harris and Ifop projected that Macron will win with between 57% and 58.5% of the vote, compared to between 41.5-43% for Le Pen.
This second round has implications for the future of Europe.
During the campaign, Macron was the favored candidate but faced a tough challenge from Le Pen.
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Macron asked voters to trust him for a second five-year term after a government that included protests, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The outcome of the election in France, a nuclear power with one of the world's largest economies, could also affect the conflict in Ukraine, as France has played a key role in diplomatic efforts and support for sanctions against Russia.
Support for Le Pen grew during the campaign to the highest level it has ever achieved.
Many of those who planned to vote for Macron would probably do so to curb Le Pen and ideas seen as too extreme and undemocratic, such as his plan to ban the wearing of the Islamic hijab in public or his links with Russia.
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Le Pen voted in Henin-Beaumont, in the former industrial heartland of France.
There he cheerfully greeted poll workers in the northern city.
He emerged from the radiant voting booth and deposited his ballot in a transparent box.
Outside, he took photos with his followers.
Then it was Macron's turn, who shook dozens of hands, and carried a child, on his way from the family home in the English Channel resort town of Le Touquet to his polling station.
Inside, the president greeted more people, posed for photos with his wife Brigitte and cast his vote with a wink for the cameras.
The voting booths were protected by curtains of the red, white and blue of the French flag.
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The two candidates tried to attract the 7.7 million votes won by the leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was defeated in the first round.
By noon the participation was 26.1%, slightly more than during the first round on April 10.
For many of those who voted for leftist candidates on April 10, this second vote posed an ugly choice between nationalist Le Pen and a president some believe leaned to the right during his first term.
All opinion polls in recent days pointed to a victory for the 44-year-old Europeanist president, although the difference with respect to his 53-year-old nationalist rival varied widely, between 6 and 15 percentage points, depending on the survey.
They also advanced a possible record of people who would vote blank or would stay at home.
Macron went on the offensive this week in a two-hour, 45-minute debate, the last of the campaign, in which he cornered his far-right rival in an effort to get the votes he needed to win.
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Le Pen tried to appeal to the working class, affected by the rise in prices stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine, a strategy that even Macron acknowledges has had an effect.
The far-right said lowering the cost of living would be her priority if she was elected as France's first female president and she stood as the candidate for voters who can't make ends meet.
Le Pen says that Macron's presidency has divided the country and often refers to the gilets jaunes protest movement, which rocked the Macron government before the COVID-19 pandemic with violent protests against economic measures that, according to some, harmed the poorest.
The French presidential campaign has been especially hard on voters with an immigrant background and religious minorities.
Polls indicate that much of France's Muslim population, the largest in Western Europe, voted in the first round for leftist candidates, so their voice could be decisive.
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Macron defended his climate and environmental achievements in a bid to appeal to young voters who tend to vote left.
Millennials, in particular, voted in droves for Melenchon.
Many young voters are especially interested in climate issues.
Although Macron was associated with the slogan "Make the planet great again" in his first five-year term, he capitulated to outraged yellow vest protesters by scrapping a fuel tax hike.
The president has said that his next prime minister would be in charge of environmental planning, with the aim of making France carbon neutral by 2050.
With information from AP and
NBC News