President for all, France's Macron wins second term, Defeats Le Pen

French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election on Sunday, convincingly defeating his rival Marine Le Pen and prompting a wave of relief in Europe that the far-right had been kept out of power.  Macron, in a historic win, making it the first time that a governing leader of the Fifth Republic, which has been the political system since 1958, has been re-elected. Macron told a cheering crowd of supporters: “No one will be left by the side of the road." He also pledged a "renewed method" to govern France, adding that this "new era" would not be one of "continuity with the last term which is now ending". Centrist Macron was set to win around 58 percent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with Le Pen on 42 percent, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of the vote count. Macron is the first French president to win a second term for two decades, but Le Pen's result also marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.

Le Pen - whose past admiration for Russia's Vladimir Putin has been highlighted by her rival - admitted defeat but declared: "I will never abandon France". She has pledged to keep up the fight in June parliamentary elections. "The result represents a brilliant victory," she said to cheers. Macron's first term saw many disruptions, including street protests, rising prices among others. With his focus on pro-business reforms to continue, demonstrations may be back on the streets. “There will be continuity in government policy because the president has been reelected. But we have also heard the French people's message,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said.