French presidential elections' front-runner centrist Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said that he has not won the presidential race yet, rejecting accusations that he was banking on his victory, which he clinched in the first round of the polls by leading number of votes.
The former banker said that his victory in the first round of the elections was proof that that the pollsters had got it wrong. Many pollsters had placed him second to Le Pen in the opening round; however Macron eventually garnered more votes than Le Pen.
"Nothing's won yet," 39-year-old Macron said during a visit to a hospital near Paris. "I will continue to fight for two weeks... I will defend the progressive camp to the end," Macron said, who is running to become France's youngest-ever president.
The incumbent French President Francois Hollande on Monday threw his weight behind his former economy minister Macron, and urged the French voters to not support Le Pen in the final round. Hollande also denounced the National Front leader's policies calling them divisive and dangerous for France.
Hollande, however, also appeared to admonish Macron for not taking the fight to Le Pen over the past two days since he won the first round.
"We need to be extremely serious and mobilised, and not to think it's a done deal, because a vote is earned, it's fought for," said Hollande.
Macron's victory speech and a high-profile celebration, after winning Sunday's polls with 24.1 percent to Le Pen's 21.3 percent, drew criticism from some.
Socialist Party boss Jean-Christophe Cambadelis told French radio: "He was smug. He wrongly thought that it was a done deal. It's not a done deal."
His opposing candidate, Le Pen, also criticised Macron stating, "all French people saw that he had the feeling he'd already won. It's not very respectful of democracy, of the voters". Macron however defended the celebration saying that his guests at the celebration were mostly campaigners who deserved a night out after a year of hard work.
Soon after the results of the first round, Le Pen visited Paris' main wholesale food market and gave a TV interview, in which she accused Macron of lacking love for his own country and representing "runway globalisation." Macron is in favour of France's membership of the European Union, while Le Pen wants the country out of the European bloc.
