Mélenchon's defeat leaves the left in a lurch before second round of French presidential elections

Although far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon took almost 22% of the ballots in Sunday’s first round of the French presidential election, his third-place finish just behind Marine Le Pen means he narrowly failed to qualify for the second round on April 24. His exit leaves France’s left-leaning voters to choose between a centrist, pro-business incumbent and a far-right candidate.