(AP Photo/Francois Mori). French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron pays respect during a ceremony marking 102nd anniversary of the slaying of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in a brief ceremony, Monday April 24, 2017 in Paris.
French presidential contender Marine Le Pen said she is leaving her post as president of the far-right National Front Party to be a candidate for "all the French" ahead of a runoff election.
Final results from the election's first round show that Macron got almost 1 million more votes than Le Pen, with both advancing to the May 7 runoff.
Hollande, a Socialist nearing the end of five years of unpopular rule, threw his weight behind his former economy minister in a televised address, saying Le Pen's policies were divisive and stigmatized sections of the population.
The defeated candidates in first round of the elections - François Fillon, of the centre-right, who took 19.91% of the vote, and hard-left nominee Jean-Luc Mélenchon who gained 19.64%, urged their supporters to back Mr Macron in the May 7, run-off.
The European Parliament is expected to begin the process to lift the immunity of France's far-right presidential challenger Marine Le Pen on Wednesday for her alleged misuse of European Union funds, parliament officials said.
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Cummings then added that the White House has refused to provide information to the committee during their investigation. Russian Federation has denied the allegations, which have cast a shadow over the first 100 days of Trump's presidency.
Le Pen won 21.4 percent of the vote on Sunday to 23.9 percent for Macron, who is now projected to defeat her by a margin of about 20 points in the runoff.
Another suggestion is that Le Pen's distance from National Front will make it easier for her to build bridges with members of other right-leaning parties.
Macron first sought a debate with Le Pen in February "which she refused". Ms. Le Pen beat her own previous record of votes in the first round of 2012, when she won 17.9%.
"There is a revolt of the people against the elite" seen in Britain's Brexit vote and "probably" in the election of US President Donald Trump, Le Pen said in a TF-1 television show.
'I think her campaign was too laid-back. Le Pen was the second most popular candidate among young voters, winning 21% in the first round. The polls still point to a landslide victory for Macron in the second round of the election, which will take place May 7.
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