Emmanuel Macron has defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen by a comfortable margin in a runoff election and has won a second term.
The first projections showed centrist Macron securing around 57-58 percent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff. Such estimates are normally accurate, but may be fine-tuned as official results come in from around the country.
Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Rally party (Rassemblement National or RN), received 41.8 percent of the votes, the highest in her last three unsuccessful presidential bids.
In a victory speech on Sunday evening, Macron said a simple “thank you!” and praised the majority who gave him five more years at the helm of France.Macron also thanked people who voted for him not because they embrace his ideas but because they wanted to reject Le Pen.
source:shafaqna