French election: Emmanuel Macron defeats Le Pen to win second term

French President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected on Sunday with 58% of the vote share compared to 41% for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

The two candidates had presented fundamentally different visions of France and Macron acknowledged in a victory speech that many voters supported him only to counter the far-right. He called on the divided population to be “benevolent and respectful” and promised a “new era”.

Abstention was estimated by pollster Ipsos to be at around 28% nationally, which would be the highest since 1969, with many voters rejecting a repeat of the 2017 election.