It will have an unlikely accomplice in seeking to block Mr. Macron's agenda in far-left Euroskeptic leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon - whose anti-Macron supporters were deemed responsible for the lowest turnout in a presidential election since 1969 (75 per cent) and record rate of spoiled ballots (9 per cent).
Almost 60% of those who planned to vote for him said they would do so to stop Ms Le Pen, rather than out of any enthusiasm for Mr Macron. With a margin of victory exceeding his campaign's most optimistic projections, it might seem French voters decided to choose hope over fear, to look outward, not inward.
Sylvie Bermann, the French ambassador to the United Kingdom, was among the voters casting their ballots on Sunday morning.
In a statement put out by his press secretary Sean Spicer and notable primarily for its brevity, the White House said: "We congratulate President-elect Macron and the people of France on their successful presidential election".
In other voting issues, the French voting watchdog called on the Interior Ministry late Friday to look into claims by the Le Pen campaign of tampering with ballot papers in a way that favours Macron. The ceremony follows a well-rehearsed form: Emmanuel Macron will go to the Elysée and be received in the courtyard by Hollande. French voters on Sunday ultimately rejected her populist wave of "French-first" nationalism by a large margin, in which Le Pen had threatened to leave the European Union.
She was able to vote without any incident after feminist activists were briefly detained a couple of hours earlier Sunday for hanging a big anti-Le Pen banner from a church.
Macron's victory is not a surprise as polls routinely showed him far ahead of Le Pen.
While Le Pen has worked hard to rid her nationalistic party of its xenophobic image, she has campaigned on an anti-immigration, anti-EU platform.
Global financial markets and France's neighbors are watching carefully. France will vote on Sunday May 7 in the second round of the presidential election.
Kourtney Kardashian goes public with rumoured new boyfriend
No, no, no, I'm talking about Chelsea Clinton , what she said when she was sticking up for Barron Trump", she says. Is Kris Jenner, who is cold with his daughters because of KUWTK , going to make Scott his new foal?
The former Socialist economy minister and one-time banker was all smiles and petted a black dog as he stepped out of his vacation home in the seaside resort.
Workers prepare the booths at a polling station in Saint Cloud, outside Paris, France, Saturday, May 6, 2017.
When Trump launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base last month in retaliation to a chemical weapons attack by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Le Pen was one of the few political leaders in Europe to criticize him.
Hollande voted Sunday morning in his political fiefdom of Tulle in southwestern France. Hollande himself decided not to run again.
Macron has been portrayed as a candidate for the young and globalised, with his blend of centrist policies - which include reducing corporation tax and being pro-EU - in stark contrast to Le Pen, who advocates economic protectionism. Until now, modern France had been governed either by the Socialists or the conservatives, but both of their candidates were eliminated before the runoff.
Macron has opted for the dignified Esplanade du Louvre, the courtyard of the renowned museum in central Paris.
Le Pen, speaking to supporters at a post-election FN gathering in Vincennes near Paris, said the outcome was "a historic, massive result" for the FN.
Celebration sites have a huge symbolic power, and both candidates are trying to break with the past and the traditional left-right divide. Unions already plan a protest Monday regardless of whether Le Pen or Macron wins. Many voters like him are both anxious about the racist past of Le Pen's National Front party and anxious about the 39-year-old Macron's inexperience or his pro-business policies. I'd say it's more like the plague or chicken pox.
More recently, ties between the two may have paled. France's government cybersecurity agency is investigating the hack.
Comments