Macron re-elected French president
SMA NEWS – PARIS
Emmanuel Macron was reelected as president of France on Sunday but a powerful showing by his far-right rival Marine Le Pen — her strongest ever — spells trouble for his second term and sends a warning shot to NATO and the European Union.
The centrist incumbent swept to victory by a comfortable margin, with some 58.5 percent of the electorate backing him versus 41.5 percent for Le Pen, according to a preliminary tally. That gives Macron a second five-year term.
But the president’s victory is clouded by the fact that his rival won more votes than any far-right candidate in the history of the French Republic.
More than 12 million people chose Le Pen, about five million more than during her last presidential bid in 2017 — an increase that suggests that her strategy of trying to bring her party into the political mainstream has been largely successful.
But the most immediate challenge will be for Macron, who embarks on his second term in a deeply divided country where political anger could easily boil over into street protests and violence.
The president acknowledged those divisions in his victory speech.
“Our country is full of doubts and divisions, so we will need to be strong. But nobody will be left by the wayside,” he said from an octagon-shaped stage set in front of the Eiffel Tower.
