French duel: Macron vs Le Pen fight for presidency

With the first round of the French presidential elections out of the way, the duel starts afresh for incumbent centrist Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen

PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron may be ahead in the presidential race so far, but he warned his supporters that “nothing is done” and his runoff battle with far-right challenger Marine Le Pen will be a hard fight. And she's ready for it.

The duel is starting Monday, after the two came out on top in Sunday's first-round vote. The centrist Macron is heading to an economically depressed area of northern France where a majority of voters chose Le Pen, close to her electoral stronghold of Henin-Beaumont.

Meanwhile, Le Pen’s National Rally officials will meet Monday to plan strategy for the second round, scheduled on April 24. Le Pen summed up the standoff by saying voters are faced with “a fundamental choice between two opposing visions of the future."

Macron already faced Le Pen in the presidential runoff five years ago. But all opinion polls show the leader of the National Rally is much closer this time to a potential win.