Independent centrist and newcomer Politician, Emmanuel Macron, has become France’s youngest-ever president after earning a decisive win the country’s run-off election on Sunday.
The 39-year-old Macron has never been elected to any office before winning his country’s top position on Sunday, beat anti-immigration and anti-EU firebrand, Marine Le Pen, with 65.8 percent of the vote to Le Pen’s 34.2 percent, according to estimates released after final polls closed at 8pm Paris time.
In his post-election speech, Mr Macron said he had heard “the rage, anxiety and doubt that a lot of you have expressed” and vowed to spend his five years in office “fighting the forces of division that undermine France”.
He said he would “guarantee the unity of the nation and… defend and protect Europe.”
In her remarks shortly after polls closed, Marine Le Pen said, “The National Front… must deeply renew itself in order to rise to the historic opportunity and meet the French people’s expectations.” She pledged during her brief address to supporters to “propose to start this deep transformation of our movement in order to make a new political force.”
With 93% of the votes counted, Mr Macron has about 19.3 million votes, while Ms Le Pen has about 10.4 million, the French interior ministry says.
World Leaders Reacts
In a related development, US President Donald Trump congratulated Mr Macron via twitter for the “big win” and said he looked forward to working with him.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel tweeted her congratulations, saying Mr Macron’s win was a “victory for a strong united Europe”. British Prime Minister Theresa May said: “France is one of our closest allies and we look forward to working with the new president.”
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage sounded a consolation note, saying: “Macron offers five more years of failure” and encouraging Ms Le Pen to “stick in there”.
Outgoing French President, François Hollande, congratulated Mr Macron and said the result showed the French people wanted to unite around the “values of the republic”.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, sent a “congratulatory message” on Monday to Emmanuel Macron, state news agency Xinhua said. He added: “China and France bear special important responsibilities to world peace and development.
