Macron faces a divided nation after election win

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron faced the daunting challenge of uniting a deeply divided nation on Tuesday after winning re-election in a battle against Marine Le Pen that saw the far right come its closest yet to taking power.

Centrist Macron won 58.54 percent of the vote in the second-round run-off compared with 41.46 for Le Pen, according to final results from the interior ministry.But his win over his far-right rival was narrower than their last face-off in 2017, when Macron won more than 66 percent. Le Pen's result this time around was the best ever for the far right.

Macron acknowledged some of the challenges he now faces in his victory speech on Sunday night in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. “Our country is beset by doubts and divisions,” he said. “Today’s vote requires us to consider all the hardships of people’s lives and to respond effectively to them and to the anger expressed.”

The French president has a long to-do list, ranging from preparing for key parliamentary elections in June to implementing his long-delayed pension reform plans and dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Macron also has to contend with an energised far left, many of whom backed far-leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round and voted for the incumbent in the final round only to stop a far-right victory.

“There are not just two Frances, there are at least three,” said Brice Teinturier, head of the Ipsos polling institute, speaking on France Inter radio. Mélenchon’s France is not reconcilable with Le Pen’s, he said. "Its values and aspirations are radically opposed to those of the far right.”

"The difficulties are going to start real soon," Teinturier told AFP. Addressing supporters late on Sunday, Macron vowed to heal rifts in a deeply divided country, promising a response to the "anger" that prompted many French to vote for the far right.

Turnout was the lowest in any presidential election second-round run-off since 1969 and, in another striking sign of disenchantment with politics, 8.6 percent of people who showed up to vote either submitted a blank or nullified ballot in protest.

"We need to respond to the angry and worried messages from millions of French people who say, 'I can't make ends meet'," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. The 44-year-old president now faces parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical for his ambitions.

"Macron's biggest challenge will be to create a sense of cohesion in an extremely fragmented country," said Tara Varma, senior policy fellow and head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.