French centrist politician Emmanuel Macron has lost ground to his closest election rival, conservative Francois Fillon, and might not make a May 7 runoff against far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
The poll, released on Tuesday, has Fillon as favourite to win the presidency - a position he lost in the aftermath of a fake work scandal that engulfed his campaign four weeks ago. Others have recently shown him neck-and-neck with Macron
BFM TV said the Elabe poll it commissioned showed that Le Pen, who heads the anti-immigrant and anti-European Union National Front, was easily assured of getting through to the two-candidate knockout by getting 27-28 per cent of the vote in the April 23 first round.
But either Fillon or Macron would pick up votes from each other's electorate and the left to beat her comfortably in the runoff - Macron with 59 per cent to her 41, and Fillon 56 per cent to her 44.
The poll put Macron, a former investment banker and economy minister, on 17-18 per cent in the first round, with Fillon, a former right-wing prime minister, on 20 to 21 per cent.
Fillon had been favourite until late January when his ratings went into a spiral over a scandal involving payments from state funds to his wife and children for work they may not have done.
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