French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to comfortably win reelection Sunday in a runoff, polling agencies projected, offering France and the European Union the reassurance of leadership stability in the bloc’s only nuclear-armed power.
A second five-year term for Macron — if confirmed by official results later Sunday — would spare France and its allies in Europe and beyond the seismic upheaval of a wartime shift of power to Macron’s far-right nationalist challenger Marine Le Pen, who quickly acknowledged her defeat.
Her campaign had pledged to dilute French ties with the 27-nation EU, the NATO military alliance and Germany, moves that would have shaken Europe’s security architecture.
Polling agencies’ projections, released as the last voting stations closed, said Macron was on course to beat Le Pen by a double-digit margin.
Five years ago, Macron won a sweeping victory over Le Pen to become France’s youngest president at 39.
The margin is expected to be much smaller this time: Polling agencies Opinionway, Harris and Ifop projected that the 44-year-old pro-European centrist would win at least 57% of the vote.
AHN
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn