Emmanuel Macron was re-elected to the French presidency on Sunday night after beating the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the final round of voting. But Le Pen took more than 40% of the vote in what Macron has conceded is a deeply divided country.
The Guardian’s Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis tells Nosheen Iqbal that the result was greeted with a wave of relief around the European Union, with Macron returning to a key role in the response to the crisis in Ukraine.
Macron now faces a huge challenge to steer France through a cost of living crisis that has led to huge street protests. And while the far right may have been defeated this time, there is no avoiding the fact that in two consecutive French elections Le Pen has made it to the final round, and she has now bettered her result from five years ago. With Macron’s term limit up at the next election, the next five years will be crucial if the far right is to be defeated once more.
Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
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