French President Emmanuel Macron has reached out to Marine Le Pen’s frustrated supporters after he was re-elected for a second five-year term tonight.
Mr Macron, the 44-year-old centrist, won with a 58.2% share of the vote – beating the far-Right Ms Le Pen, 53, on 41.8%, according to exit polls.
In an ambitious victory speech, Mr Macron said: ‘From now on I am no longer the candidate for a party. I’m everyone’s President!’
He conceded that France was ‘full of anger and division’, but pledged: ‘Nobody will be left by the wayside.’
Mr Macron arrived at a rally on the Champ de Mars, underneath the Eiffel Tower, an hour-and-a-half after the result was called.
To rapturous cheers and applause, he held hands with his wife, Brigitte Macron, as Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – the European Union anthem – blasted out of speakers.
Making his way up to the stage with a giant screen behind it, he said: ‘Thank you!
‘Thank you, dear friends, fellow citizens, here tonight in Paris, and everywhere in France and our overseas territories and abroad, before anything else let me say thank you.
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After five years of difficult but happy transformation and exception challenged this date – 24 April 2024 – a majority amongst us chose me to pilot the Republic for the next five years.’
Wearing his trademark blue suit and tie, he continued: ‘Together we can make France more independent and Europe stronger. By freeing our creativity, we can make France a great, green nation.
‘I know a lot of people voted for me tonight, not because of my ideals, but to block the far-Right. I have been entrusted with their sense of duty for the next five years.’