Polling stations opened across France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and voting will continue in the largest cities until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards.

At the end of his first week in office, Macron left Gao, a city in Mali's deeply-troubled north, after lunching with French troops and sitting for talks with Malian counterpart Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Macron becomes France’s youngest president and has pulled off a remarkable feat. He has never held elected office, and just over a year ago his political movement En Marche did not even exist.

The victory caps an extraordinary rise for the 39-year-old former investment banker, who will become the country's youngest-ever leader.

Macron, 39, told the Journal de Dimanche newspaper one of his first measures would be to pass a law setting new ethical standards for parliament, followed by related legislation that will cut the number of MPs by a third.

The founder of France's far-right National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been charged with inciting hatred for alleged anti-Semitic remarks in 2014, his lawyer said Saturday.