Far-right's Le Pen leads French election 1st round voting intentions: Cevipof poll

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-right National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen would win the first round of the French presidential election with between 25 and 26 percent of the vote, according to a poll of voting intentions by Cevipof for Le Monde newspaper. In a report on its web site, Le Monde showed Le Pen with 25 or 26 percent, centrist Emmanuel Macron coming second with 20 or 23 percent and conservative Francois Fillon third on 17.5 or 18.5 percent. The lower scores in each case refer to a scenario in which another centrist, Francois Bayrou, runs as a candidate. He has yet to announce a decision. The initial publication of the report did not reveal any second round voting intentions, but those first round scores would put Le Pen and Macron through to a second round runoff that other polls have shown Macron winning. The Cevipof poll was based on a trawl of over 15,000 voters, more than many of the other polls circulating ahead of the April 23 first round. The poll was conducted between Feb 7 and Feb 12. (Reporting by Andrew Callus; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)