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Emmanuel Macron is set to become the youngest-ever president of France, according to initial results. Projections showed the pro-EU candidate resoundingly defeating his nationalist rival Marine Le Pen.
Emmanuel Macron achieved a clear victory over far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s presidential election in France, according to initial results. The 39-year-old leader of the independent En Marche! (On the move!) movement has proven that the French preferred a relative newcomer to the anti-immigrant Le Pen, who has spent years moving her party away from the extreme right fringes in an effort to make it more palatable o French voters.
The centrist’s emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring huge relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Donald Trump’s election as US president.
MACRON Victory gives Hope to French Muslims
Early projections showed Macron had beaten Le Pen by a margin of some 65 percent to around 34.5 percent.
Macron youngest ever president
Emmanuel Macron has won the Elysee Palace at just 39 years of age. That is a record. The clever banker’s astonishing career has changed France’s political system. Bernd Riegert reports from Paris.
In the past, fellow students at France’s elite university ENA have described Emmanuel Macron as single-minded, and always a bit more mature than his age would lead one to believe. At 15 he met the love of his life, who happens to be 24 years older than he is. By 27 he had earned two degrees and had a good job in public finance management. At 29 he married his former Latin teacher. At 31 he was working at the renowned bank, Rothschild. And by the time he was in his mid-30s he had become a partner there and made millions. A truly brilliant career. He seems smart, but somehow a bit square. No escapades, total normalcy.
All the way to the top
Yet that was not enough for the young man from a good family. The philosophy and business administration graduate aspired to politics. The leftist presidential advisor Jacques Attali, a paternal patron, introduced Macron to Socialist party leaders and ultimately to Francois Hollande, who would later become the French president. Initially, Macron, a successful banker, became an economics advisor to Hollande. From 2014 to 2016 he served as the president’s economics minister. Socialist party membership was little more than a formality, he never had to stand for election. To this day he has never held an elected position. He has very little traditional political experience.
ADDITIONAL INFO COURTESY DW