PARIS, May 5: France dealt a heavy defeat to extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Sunday in a presidential election runoff that returned conservative incumbent Jacques Chirac by a landslide, exit polls showed.

Polling institutes gave Chirac around 82 per cent of the vote against about 18 per cent for Le Pen in exit polls issued as voting across the country ended at 8pm local time.

They put turnout at around 80 per cent after two weeks of street protests against the far right, well up on the first round when record abstentions helped boost Le Pen’s score.

Political parties and pressure groups across the spectrum had called for a massive vote for Chirac, 69, leader of the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) party, in an election that Le Pen’s presence turned into a referendum on the extreme right.

Le Pen, 73, leader of the anti-immigrant National Front party, stunned Europe on April 21 when he edged past Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to enter the runoff from a crowded field with 16.9 percent of the vote to 19.9 per cent for Chirac.

Left-wing parties and French newspapers from across the political spectrum had called for a massive vote in favour of the conservative Chirac to limit the score of Le Pen, head of the National Front party.

Three hours before polls were due to close, 67.6 per cent of the country’s 41 million voters had cast their ballots, significantly higher than the 58.55 per cent that had voted by the same time in the first round on April 21, according to the interior ministry.

Opinion surveys published before a weekend blackout showed Chirac could win up to 82 per cent of the votes.

Many left-wing voters said they had supported Chirac, 69, after Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was eliminated by Le Pen in the first round of voting, although some used gloves as a symbolic sign of reluctance.

There were also questions as to whether a left-wing backlash in legislative elections that follow in June will rob Chirac of any real executive power.—Agencies