France presidential election 2022: Macron to face Le Pen in second round – as it happened

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to contest second round after voters reject Melenchon, Pecresse and Zemmour

• Live results: French election 2022
• Full report: Macron on 28% to Le Pen's 23% in projected first round results
• Analysis: calls begin for voters to block far-right Le Pen

Plenty of Macron merch on offer for those at the outgoing president's post-vote pep talk:

The abstention rate, likely to prove crucial in this election, is likely to be between 25% and 26.5 %, according to French pollsters - higher than in the previous 2017 first round (22.2%), but not at 2002's record level of 28.4 %.