French voters in Belgium mostly voted for Macron

French voters in Belgium largely voted for Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the French presidential election on Sunday, ahead of left-wing candidates Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot.

Macron secured 16.864 votes out of the 42.743 votes cast, which is 39,5% of the votes, according to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Far-right challenger Marine Le Pen, who will face the incumbent in the second round of the election, came in fifth place behind Eric Zemmour, also on the far-right.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon was hot on the heels of the incumbent, winning 27,8% of the vote (11.894 votes), while Greens candidate Yannick Jadot won 9,9% votes (4.253 votes). Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour ranked in fourth place (5,8%), just ahead of Marine Le Pen with 5,7% of the votes.

In Belgium, 43,95% of French voters participated in the election in 2022.

In the 2017 election, Macron gained 35,5% of votes in Belgium, while Le Pen secured only 7,3%.

Photo shows a voter's card and ballot papers for French presidential candidates Emmanuel Macron and Marine le Pen © JOEL SAGET / AFP