Macron and Le Pen restart campaigns with Mélenchon a potential kingmaker

French president emerges in lead but tranche of far-right voters likely to transfer support to Le Pen

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen went in opposite directions on Monday in an attempt to drum up support from new voters they need to win the final round of France's presidential election in less than a fortnight.

Macron headed north, where he spent several hours talking to crowds at Denain, a former mining town once controlled by socialists but now a far-right stronghold, and promised he would listen to candidates who failed to qualify" in Sunday's first round of the election.