Macron has already been endorsed by key European leaders including in the European Union where spokesman Margarits Schinas said a "fundamental choice" must be made. So far, those candidates have nearly all backed Macron, with one holdout: far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who begrudgingly left the decision to his supporters through his website.
For far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, the Kremlin said it respected the first round results, denying it supported the far-right candidate and saying it hopes to have good relations with France. She has repeatedly said the policy platform on which she has stood is hers and not reflective of the FN. "It's highly likely that (Macron) is going to win".
Opinion polls suggest Macron is firm favourite for the second round but Le Pen said: "We can win, we will win".
Ms. Le Pen, who termed her second place victory "historic", told her supports that globalisation was endangering French civilisation. Although the results certainly indicate a historical ousting of the Socialist and Republican Parties, which have been governing France for most of the past 50 years, the results were hardly unexpected, and the two leading candidates are not political outsiders.
Both Macron and Le Pen campaigned as rebels who transcended the left-right divide. "But it is clear that over 40 per cent of French electorate voted for anti-Europe candidates", he said.
Judge blocks Trump's order to de-fund sanctuary cities
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Fillon and fifth-placed Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon have both rallied behind Macron, but Melenchon has pointedly avoided backing the centrist.
At a gathering of supporters in a convention centre in Paris on Sunday night, Mr. Macron, who was visibly moved by the results, said he would like to "relaunch the European project" and that he wanted to bring "patriots" together against "nationalists".
Her plans to restore France's borders with its European neighbours, pull out of the euro zone and hold a referendum on leaving the EU had sown fear of another devastating blow to the bloc after Britain's vote to leave.
It might also be one last attempt to distance herself from the antisemitism and racism associated with her party and her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen - an image she has worked tirelessly to erase since taking over from him as party leader in 2011.
Le Pen brought the anti-establishment FN party into the country's political mainstream in Sunday's first round to elect a new President for the next five years. The outcome capped an extraordinary campaign in a deeply divided and demoralised France, which has been rocked by a series of terror attacks since 2015 and remains stuck with low economic growth.
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