‘The French have expressed their desire for change’
Le Pen added: “The major issue of this election is runaway globalisation, which is putting our civilisation in danger.
“The French have a very simple choice. Either we continue on the path of complete deregulation – with no borders and no protection, mass immigration and free movement of terrorists – or you choose France.”
Mr Macron’s win marks the first time no candidates from mainstream parties have progressed beyond the first round since 1958 when France’s current constitution was founded.
If Mr Macron is elected he will be a year younger than Napoleon III, who was 40 when he became the Republic’s Prince-President in 1848.
The centrist politician had never stood in an election before and only started his En Marche (On The Move) party last year.
Yesterday he celebrated his triumph until the early hours with his wife, a former school teacher, Brigitte Macron, 65.
Pictures were released yesterday which showed Mr Macron at 17 leaning in to kiss his then drama coach Brigitte on the cheek after a theatre performance in May 1993.
Of the moment they first met, the grandmother of seven said: “He [Macron] came to audition for a part in the play and I watched him. He had such presence. Without doubt he wasn’t like the others. He was always with the teachers. He simply wasn’t an adolescent.” The couple married in 2007.
Yesterday, rivals from the conservative Republicans and the ruling Socialist Party queued up to back Mr Macron.
Current president Francois Hollande said: “The presence of the far-Right in the second round is a risk for the country.
“What is at stake is France’s make-up, its unity, its membership of Europe and its place in the world.”
Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon – who gained a humiliating six per cent and finished in fifth place on Sunday – said the Left had suffered a “historic drubbing” but urged voters to keep out Ms Le Pen, calling her “an enemy of the Republic”.
Republican candidate Francois Fillon said: “There is no other choice than voting against the extreme-Right.”
Both Mr Fillon and his Welshborn wife Penelope face trial over a fake jobs scandal in which they allegedly siphoned unearned cash into their bank accounts. Ms Le Pen also faces charges over a fake jobs scandal and allegations she published photos of a beheaded US journalist on Twitter.
Security will be at its highest level following last week’s murder of a policeman on Paris’s Champs-Elysees by an IS-affiliated Frenchman. France is still under a state of emergency after the 2015 Paris attacks with 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers deployed for Sunday.