Vote for French presidency heating up

Exit polls from the French presidential election suggest Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has beaten incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

CNN is reporting Hollande has come out at 28.4 percent, with Sarkozy on 25.5.

But far right extremist Marine Le Pen has been the surprise - coming third with around 20 percent support.

Only the first two go through to the second round.

It's thought her National Front votes are most likely to go to Sarkozy.

The second round of voting takes place on May 6.

Humiliated French president Nicolas Sarkozy now has two weeks to scoop up a big chunk of National Front votes and hold onto his job.

He's been beaten in round one of the presidential election by socialist Francois Hollande, who's promised to increase spending and raise taxes.

France correspondent Catherine Field says the interesting result has been the strong showing by third runner, National Front candidate Marine Le Pen.

She says that means Sarkozy is not out by any stretch.

"He's going to go out there and he's going to go out there and fight. I think you can expect more personality attacks on Hollande. 'Whatever you think about Hollande is because he's held no high government position in France, you can't trust this guy' is what Sarkozy's been saying."

Catherine Field says Hollande hasn't set the election alight, and people are voting for the candidate they dislike the least.

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