France’s new leader
Centrist French candidate Emmanuel Macron crushed rightwing rival Marine Le Pen on Sunday in a historic election that will make him the country’s youngest-ever president.
With nearly all the vote counted, Macron — who had never before run for public office — won 65 percent to Le Pen’s 35 percent, according to the French Interior Ministry.
The tally almost exactly matched exit-poll predictions, and Le Pen phoned Macron to concede the bitterly fought contest shortly after the polls closed.
The results amounted to a ringing repudiation of Le Pen’s nationalist and anti-immigrant campaign and will prevent a further fracturing of the European Union following last year’s Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. Le Pen had pledged to hold a similar referendum in France if elected.
The European anthem, “Ode to Joy,” played as Macron, 39, took the podium to address jubilant supporters waving French flags.
He told the crowd gathered outside the Louvre museum that Le Pen’s support had been based on “anger, disarray.”
“I will do everything in the next five years so there is no more reason to vote for the extremes,” he said.
The stinging remarks followed a solemn, televised speech during which Macron, who founded his independent En Marche! party just last year, vowed to unite the country.
“I know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that a large number of you also expressed. It is my responsibility to hear them,” he said.
Le Pen, meanwhile, defiantly announced plans to transform the National Front party founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Penso she could keep up the fight between “patriots and globalists.”
President Trump — who had expressed support for Marine Le Pen but stopped short of endorsing her — saluted Macron on his victory about 90 minutes after polls closed.
“Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!” Trump tweeted.
Sunday’s runoff followed a first-round election on April 23 that narrowed a field of 11 to two.
France has been rocked by repeated terrorist attacks that have killed at least 230 people since 2015, and the site of Macron’s victory speech on the Esplanade du Louvre was briefly evacuated when a suspicious bag prompted a bomb scare earlier Sunday.
The museum remained open during the courtyard evacuation.
Also Sunday, reports revealed that French authorities were investigating the hacking of Macron’s campaign, which led to the last-minute release of thousands of internal documents.
The probe was opened on Friday, the same day the stolen files were posted online ahead of an official midnight news blackout, sources told The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
French election officials said Saturday that “a significant amount of data” — including false information — was leaked via social media by unknown perpetrators.