Emmanuel Macron was re-elected president of France on April 24th in a remarkable victory that defied historic tradition.
The incumbent centrist received 58.5 percent of the vote in the second and final round of voting. Easily defeating the nationalist-populist Marine Le Pen, who received 41.5 percent.
The 44-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron is the first incumbent French president in 20 years to be re-elected. He is also the only president in the Fifth Republic’s history to be re-elected by direct universal suffrage while maintaining a parliamentary majority.
MACRON VOWS TO UNITE FRANCE
Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European centrist, promised to unite a divided France after gaining a clear victory. Over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who received more than 13 million votes in a historic high for her anti-immigration party.
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Macron promised to respond “efficiently” to the “anger and disagreement” of voters, who selected the extreme right during a victory rally. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, where his supporters waved French and European flags.
“I know that a number of French people have voted for me today. Not to support my ideas but to stop the ideas of the far-right,” he said. And called on supporters to be “kind and respectful” to others because the country was riven by “so much doubt, so much division”.
He added: “I’m not the candidate of one camp anymore, but the president of all of us.”
