EU and Netherlands leaders are among the first to congratulate Emmanuel Macron
Boris Johnson congratulates Emmanuel Macron on his re-election saying he will ‘continue to work together with France’ – and gets his congratulations in before the Germans
Emmanuel Macron has been predicted to have secured 58.2% share of the voteAccording to exit polls, he has crushed Marine Le Pen who got 41.8% of the voteBoris Johnson said he ‘looks forward to continuing to work together’ with FranceEU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also congratulated Macron
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Boris Johnson has congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election saying he will ‘continue to work together with France’ as European Union leaders breathed a sigh of relief at news the far-right had been prevented from taking power.
Macron, the 44-year-old centrist, won with a 58.2% share of the vote – beating Marine Le Pen, 53, on 41.8%, according to exit polls.
Mr Johnson tweeted: ‘Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on your re-election as President of France.
‘France is one of our closest and most important allies. I look forward to continuing to work together on the issues which matter most to our two countries and to the world.’
Shortly after the poll was released, Le Pen conceded defeat in an address to her supporters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted in French, ‘together we will make France and Europe advance.’
The Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte tweeted his hope to ‘continue our extensive and constructive cooperation in EU and NATO.’
In Germany, politicians around the political spectrum offered support, including from the pro-business Free Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and conservative Christian Social Union.
Many in Europe had worried Le Pen would undermine European unity and its post-war order.
Emmanuel Macron has won the French Presidential election, according to exit polls, defeating Marine Le Pen
Marine Le Pen delivers a speech after being defeated in the second round of the French presidential elections at the Pavillon d’Armenonville in Paris
Supporters react at the Eiffel Tower after the victory of French President and La Republique en Marche (LREM) party candidate in France’s presidential election
The outcome, expected to be confirmed by official results overnight, caused immense relief in Europe after fears a Le Pen presidency would leave the continent rudderless following Brexit and the departure of German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called Macron’s victory ‘great news for all of Europe’.
EU president Charles Michel said the bloc can now ‘count on France for five more years’ while commission chief Ursula von der Leyen rapidly congratulated him saying she was ‘delighted to be able to continue our excellent cooperation’.
In a combative speech to supporters in Paris where she accepted the result but showed no sign of quitting politics, Le Pen, 53, said she would ‘never abandon’ the French and was already preparing for June legislative elections.
‘The result represents a brilliant victory,’ she said to cheers.
Leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said Le Pen’s defeat is ‘very good news for the unity of our people,’ and vowed to lead the fight against Macron’s party in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Melenchon, who failed to reach the second round by a few hundred thousand votes and had urged his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, said Macron’s ‘presidential monarchy survives by default and under the constraint of a biased choice.’
In his address, Melenchon exhorted Macron’s opponents to vote in June’s parliamentary elections to ‘choose a different path’ and elect a majority of leftist lawmakers. Melenchon said he would be prepared to lead an opposition government.
‘Courage, action, determination, always refusing fatality and resignation,’ Melenchon said.
The relatively comfortable margin of victory gives Macron some confidence as he heads into a second five-year mandate, but the election also represents the closest the far-right has ever come to winning power in France.
Macron is the first French president to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002 after his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande left office after only one term.
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, congratulated France for ‘deciding against having a Trump or Brexit moment’.
‘Populism can and must be defeated’, he added. ‘This is a good day in that fight.’
