Centrist leader predicted to win first round of presidential race against far-right candidate

• France: presidential election – live

France faces a brutal two-week campaign over the country’s future, as the centrist incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, faces the far-right Marine Le Pen for the presidency, positioning himself as a pro-European “progressive” against what he calls her anti-Muslim, nationalist programme and “complacency” about Vladimir Putin.

Macron topped Sunday’s first round of the French presidential election with 28.5% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen’s 23.6%, according to initial projected results.

80% of those polled felt the campaign was ‘poor quality’, with many complaining of a lack of ideas or vision

A majority of French people feel the 2022 presidential election campaign has been poor quality and never really got off the ground, which could lead to protest votes and a historically low turnout in Sunday’s first round, pollsters and analysts have said.

An Ifop poll this month found 80% of French people felt the campaign was “poor quality”. Voters have complained of a lack of new political ideas or vision, and few solutions to their problems, after two years of the Covid pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis.

Centrist incumbent and far-right rival go into last day of campaigning after a week of sparring in media

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen attacked each other in media interviews and walkabouts as final polls showed the gap between them narrowing on the last day of campaigning before Sunday’s first-round vote.

Macron said Le Pen was “lying” to voters about her “racist” manifesto programme, which includes banning the Muslim headscarf, and accused her of “complacency” in her ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.