Exit Polls: Emmanuel Macron Won French Presidential Election by 2:1 Margin

Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron, 39, will be the next President of France. He is projected to get 66.1% of the French vote, Le Pen will receive 33.9% according to exit polls.

Macron is in favor of European integration. He wants France to remain in the E.U., The Eurozone, and NATO. He is a French politician, senior civil servant, and former investment banker. Ideologically he is characterised as a centrist and a liberal.

A wild celebration ensued when the exit polls were released. Marine Le Pen was seen as an ethno nationalist who would have steered France out of the European Union, out of NATO. She said she would have restricted immigration.

Le Pen was not clear about whether France should leave the Euro-zone or NATO. She went back and forth on this point, blaming immigrants for social problems in France such as crime and terrorism.

Le Pen immediately called Macron to concede defeat. At 8:02, she delivered a speech saying the French people had chosen continuity. Her father was defeated in 2002, but her 11,000,000 votes were twice as many votes as her father Jean Marie Le Pen received. She immediately asked her supporters to turn out in large numbers for the June parliamentary elections, and said she hoped to play a role in the future parliament.

To this writer, Le Pen did not seem surprised by her loss. The crowds at Macron rallies did not appear all that enthusiastic. This is the expected result.

Turnout was significantly lower than previous French national elections, though at 65%, turnout was higher than American elections.

Macron who was seen as a centrist, is very young at 39. Some saw Macron as an anti-establishment figure himself, having never held elected office. He is married to his high school drama teacher, 25 years his senior. This is not seen as especially interesting in France, where there is a saying, "En amour, il n'yas pas d'age." In love, there is no age.

Born in Amiens, Macron studied philosophy at Paris Nanterre University, completed a master's of public affairs at Sciences Po, and graduated from the École nationale d'administration (ENA) in 2004. He worked as an Inspector of Finances in the Inspectorate General of Finances (IGF) and then became an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque.

A member of the Socialist Party (PS) from 2006 to 2009, Macron was appointed as deputy secretary-general under François Hollande's first government in 2012. He was appointed Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs in 2014 under the Second Valls Government, where he pushed through business-friendly reforms. He resigned in August 2016 to launch a bid in the 2017 presidential election. In November 2016, Macron declared that he would run in the election under the banner of En Marche!, a centrist political movement he founded in April 2016. He qualified for the runoff after the first round of the election on 23 April 2017.