PARIS – Political newcomer Emmanuel Macron will be France’s next president, pollsters projected Sunday night, delivering a resounding victory to an unabashedly pro-European former investment banker and strengthening France’s place as a central pillar of the European Union.
A crowd outside the Louvre museum at a Macron victory party jubilantly waved red, white and blue tricolor flags at the news.
If confirmed, the result would constitute a resounding rejection of far-right Marine Le Pen’s “French-first” nationalism and dash her hopes that the same populist wave that swept Donald Trump into the White House would also carry her to the French presidential Elysee Palace.
A Macron victory would mark the third time in six months – following elections in Austria and the Netherlands – that European voters have shot down far-right populists who want to restore borders across Europe. The victory of a candidate – Macron – who championed European unity could strengthen the EU’s hand in its complex divorce proceedings with Britain, which voted last year to leave the bloc.
Pollsters projected that Macron won 65 percent of the votes Sunday. Le Pen’s projected 35 percent score was lower than her polling numbers earlier in the campaign.