French President Emmanuel Macron comfortably won re-election to a second term Sunday, according to polling agencies’ projections In the midst of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the result offered the European Union the reassurance of stable leadership in the bloc’s only nuclear-armed power and was immediately hailed by France’s allies.
A second five-year term for the 44-year-old centrist spared France and Europe from the seismic upheaval of a shift of power to firebrand populist Marine Le Pen, Mr Macron’s presidential election challenger who quickly conceded defeat but still appeared on course for her best-ever showing.
Acknowledging that “numerous” voters cast ballots for him simply to keep out Ms Le Pen’s fiercely nationalist far-right policies, Mr Macron pledged to reunite the country “filled with so many doubts, so many divisions” and work to assuage the voter anger that fed Le Pen’s campaign.
“No one will be left by the side of the road,” he said in a victory speech against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower and a projection of the blue-white-and-red tricolor French flag.
“We have a lot to do and the war in Ukraine reminds us that we are going through tragic times where France must make its voice heard,” he said, as several hundred supporters happily waved French and EU flags to the beat of Daft Punk’s “One More Time.”
During her campaign, Ms Le Pen pledged to dilute French ties with the 27-nation EU, NATO and Germany, moves that would have shaken Europe’s security architecture as the continent deals with its worst conflict since World War II. Ms Le Pen also spoke out against EU sanctions on Russian energy supplies and faced scrutiny during the campaign over her previous friendliness with the Kremlin.
