Emmanuel Macron was
elected French president on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of
European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist
who threatened to take France out of the European Union.
The
centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of
France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies
who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to
quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president.
With
the vast bulk of votes counted, Macron had around 65.5 percent to Le
Pen’s 34.5 – a gap wider than the 20 or so percentage points that
pre-election surveys had suggested.
Even so, it was a record
performance for the National Front, a party whose anti-immigrant
policies once made it a pariah, and underlined the scale of the
divisions that Macron must now try to heal.
After winning the
first round two weeks ago, Macron had been accused of behaving as if he
was already president; on Sunday night, with victory finally sealed, he
was much more solemn.
“I know the divisions in our nation, which
have led some to vote for the extremes. I respect them,” Macron said in
an address at his campaign headquarters, shown live on television.
“I
know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that very many of you have also
expressed. It’s my responsibility to hear them,” he said. “I will work
to recreate the link between Europe and its peoples, between Europe and
citizens.”
Later he strode alone almost grimly through the
courtyard of the Louvre Palace in central Paris to the strains of the EU
anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, not breaking into a smile until he
mounted the stage of his victory rally to the cheers of his partying
supporters.
His immediate challenge will be to secure a majority
in next month’s parliamentary election for a political movement that is
barely a year old, rebranded as La Republique En Marche (“Onward the
Republic”), in order to implement his program.
–reuters.com