The candidate of the Socialist Party to the French presidency, François Hollande, won the first round of the elections with 28.63 percent, according to final data released on Monday by the Ministry of Interior.
That figure is equivalent to 10 million 273,475 votes, the report said.
For his part, the current president and running for re-election, Nicolas Sarkozy, of the Union for a Popular Movement, came in second with 27.18 points, or nine million 754, 324.
Both politicians will measure again in the polls to determine the next president of France on Sunday May 6.
The official abstention rate was of 20.53 percent, below the worst predictions that pointed to 29 points, but higher than in the 2007, when it reached 16.2, according to the data.
The total number of voters to participate in the elections in metropolitan departments and overseas territories and French consulates abroad, was 46 million 37, 782 citizens.
In the third place is Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front (17.9) 6 421 802 votes and as fourth Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the Left Front (11.1) with 3 985 089 votes.
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