(CBS/AP) PARIS - Socialist candidate Francois Hollande and France's conservative incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy are headed for a runoff in their race for the presidency, according to partial official results, in a vote that could alter the European political and economic landscape.
With half of the vote counted, Hollande had 27.6 percent of ballots cast and Sarkozy 26.6 percent, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry after final polls closed.
Defying expectations, the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim candidate Marine Le Pen landed a significant third-place showing, with 19.7 percent of the vote so far.
Ten candidates were competing in Sunday's first round of voting in what was seen as a referendum on the incumbent Sarkozy, at a time when many French voters are worried about high joblessness and weak economic prospects.
In fourth place was leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon with 10.6 percent, followed by centrist Francois Bayrou with 9.2 percent. Five others won minimal support.
The top two vote-getters head to a May 6 runoff May 6.
In an auditorium at Sarkozy's campaign headquarters, a boisterous crowd first gasped at the result shown on big-screen televisions, then a bit of a moan and then loud cheers despite Sarkozy's second-place showing.
Hollande's score, "is very good. That's a very good score in the first round, especially if you are not an incumbent," said Socialist lawmaker and Hollande supporter Aurelie Filippetti.
Le Pen, predicting a first-round surprise, said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that she would consider it a victory if she matched the first-round score of her father, National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2002. That year, he got nearly 16.8 percent of the vote and was propelled into the final round and a face-off with then-President Jacques Chirac.
Florian Philippot, strategic director of Le Pen's campaign, called her score on Sunday a "very, very beautiful victory" with a long-term impact.
"I think tonight Marine Le Pen becomes chief of the opposition," he said on BFM TV. "Nicolas Sarkozy is already gone."
Far leftist Melenchon said, "Our people appear well determined to turn the page of Nicolas Sarkozy."
