MOSCOW, May 7. /TASS/. A senior Russian lawmaker said on Sunday Emmanuel Macron’s victory at France’s runoff presidential polls was quite predictable as the strongest candidate, Francois Fillon, was knocked out of the race in a smear campaign.

According to preliminary results of Sunday’s run-off presidential election in France, the leader of the En Marche! (On the Move) movement Emmanuel Macron is winning with 65.9% of the vote. His rival, National Front leader Marine Le Pen, is getting 34.1% of votes.

"It is a predictable victory. The French had practically no choice as the strongest candidate, Francois Fillon, was knocked out of the race by a wave of smear campaigning," Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, told TASS.

Touching on the Russian-French relations, he said he is confident will go on developing throughout Macron’s presidency. "Relations will go on developing despite Macron’s threatening statements in respect of Russia," he added.