World leaders congratulate Macron on French election victory

Kathmandu: Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected as France’s president for another five years following a resounding victory over competitor Marine Le Pen, who received the far right’s largest vote percentage yet.

Macron received 58.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, becoming the first French president to be re-elected in 20 years. After coming first and second among the 12 candidates who participated in the first round on April 10, he and Le Pen went to the runoff.

More over a third of voters did not cast a ballot for either candidate. Over three million voters submitted spoiled or blank votes, resulting in the lowest turnout in a presidential run-off since 1969.

World leaders instantly congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on defeating his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, in the election.

Despite the fact that the election was a replay of the 2017 French presidential runoff, much of Europe watched it with concern. A Le Pen president would have drastically altered France’s relationship with the European Union and the West at a time when the union and its allies look to Paris to lead the way in addressing some of the world’s most challenging issues, most notably the conflict in Ukraine.

Tags: Election, French, Leaders, President, Winner, World Leaders