French vote a squeaker

Firebrand Le Pen in 2nd, setting up May clash

Centrist first-time candidate Emmanuel Macron took the lead in the first round of the French presidential election as votes continued to be counted Sunday in his tight race against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

With more than 90 percent of the ballots tallied, Macron was in first place with 23.5 percent, trailed closely by Le Pen with 22.1 percent, the French Interior Ministry said.

Scandal-scarred conservative François Fillon, who was in third place with 19.8 percent, urged his supporters to back Macron in the May 7 runoff.

Macron, a first-time candidate who founded his “En Marche!” or “On the Move!” party just over a year ago, called for national unity while thanking supporters at his Paris headquarters.

“I want to be the president of the patriots against the threat of nationalists,” said Macron, 39, who appeared with his wife, Brigitte, formerly his high-school teacher.

Meanwhile, Paris cops busted three people during clashes at the Place de la Bastille, where anarchists and “anti-fascist” activists burned cars while protesting.

Political leaders in France and across Europe hailed Macron’s projected victory, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman tweeting, “It's good that Emmanuel Macron was suc- cessful with his course for a strong EU [European Union] and social market economy.”

Earlier, Le Pen, 48, declared victory while early returns showed her out front, saying her once openly racist and anti-Semitic Na- tional Front party offered “the great alternative” for France.

“This result is historic. It puts on me a huge responsibility to defend the French nation, its unity, its security, its culture, its prosperity and its independence,” she said.

“The main thing at stake in this election is the rampant globalization that is endangering our civilization.”

Eleven candidates were vying to succeed outgoing President François Hollande, who opted against seeking re-election amid recordlow popularity.

Security was tight following last week’s fatal shooting of a Paris police officer and the wounding of two others — for which ISIS claimed responsibility — and the earlier arrests in Marseille of two men suspected of plotting a radical-Islamic terror attack.

France has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 terrorist attacks across Paris, which killed about 130 people and wounded hundreds more.