Emmanuel Macron defeats Le Pen to win French presidency - projections
Centrist candidate secures big victory over far-right leader.
By PIERRE BRIANÇON AND NICHOLAS VINOCUR 5/7/17, 8:00 PM CET Updated 5/7/17, 8:17 PM CET
PARIS — Centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France on Sunday, winning more than 65 percent of the vote to beat far-right rival Marine Le Pen, according to projections of the result on French media.
The stronger-than-expected victory of Macron is a stunning achievement for this novice to electoral politics, at 39 the youngest president in the history of France’s Fifth Republic. And it is the third consecutive setback for European populist parties who preached a mix of Trump-like nationalism and protectionism to voters fed up with conventional politics.
After Britain’s shock vote to leave the EU last June and Donald Trump’s rise to the American presidency in November, the West’s political establishments turned their anxious attention to a series of potentially disruptive elections in Europe. A far-right candidate barely lost Austria’s presidential vote in December, and the Dutch reelected mainstream parties in March. Elections in Britain and Germany are on the horizon in coming months, but those outcomes aren’t likely to disturb the status quo.
France was the most important electoral test of 2017 in Europe. Though portrayed as an outsider, Macron emerged from the establishment, served in the government of outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande and pushed a French version of Bill Clinton’s old triangulation, a reformed left in the guise of centrism. The alternative in France wasn’t just Le Pen, on the further reaches of the right, but also the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who between them got more than 40 percent of the vote in the first round two weeks ago.
European leaders in Brussels and Berlin will breathe a sigh of relief over the outcome, seeing in Macron a firm supporter of the EU. Before the first round of voting, President Trump praised Le Pen but stopped short of endorsing her. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Macron, who represents continuity in France, Europe and for the trans-Atlantic relationship.
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http://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-defeats-marine-le-pen-to-win-french-presidency-projection/
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