President Macron addresses jubilant, teeming supporters after he was announced re-elected
President Emmanuel Macron of France has won five more years as France’s president.
Macron, who won by 58.55% to 41.45%, a greater margin than expected, secured a convincing victory over rival Marine Le Pen, who secured the far right’s highest share of the vote yet.
The centrist leader assured jubilant supporters at the foot of the Eiffel Tower that with the conclusion of the election and the result announced, he would be a “president for all”.
Macron’s victory means that he is the first sitting French president in 20 years to be re-elected.
The president’s closest rival, Ms Le Pen, 53, said that her significant vote share still marked a victory.
Le Pen told her supporters that the ideas which her National Rally represented had reached new heights
However, Eric Zemmour, her far-right rival argued that she had ultimately failed, just like her father who preceded her.
“It’s the eighth time the Le Pen name has been hit by defeat,” he said.
Le Pen had taken over the party founded by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011 in a bid to make it electable.
She won more than 13 million votes on Sunday, on a platform of tax cuts to tackle the high cost of living, a ban on wearing the Muslim headscarf in public and a referendum on immigration controls.
“An answer must be found to the anger and disagreements that led many of our compatriots to vote for the extreme right.
“It will be my responsibility and that of those around me,” Mr Macron said in his victory speech.
More than one in three voters did not vote for either candidate.
The election turnout was just under 72%, the lowest in a presidential run-off since 1969, and more than three million people cast spoilt or blank votes.
Much of France was on holiday on the day of the vote, but the low turnout also reflected the apathy of voters who complained neither candidate represented them.
Voters who said they were casting blank ballots told the BBC they wanted to punish the sitting president.
Anti-Macron demonstrators rallied in a number of cities, including Paris, Rennes, Toulouse and Nantes, refusing to accept the result.
