French President Macron gets elected again

French President Emmanuel Macron won the presidential race again and became the first French President to have won a second term in office in the two decades on Sunday.

Macron defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen of National Rally party. This is her third defeat in a presidential poll.

According to interior ministry, Macron managed to secure 58.6 per cent of votes while Le Pen received 41.1 per cent votes. The result marks the closest the far-right has ever come to taking power in France and has left the nation divided as Macron’s victory against his far-right rival was narrower than their last face-off in 2017, when the margin was 66.1 per cent to 33.9 per cent, reports Al Jazeera.

However, while addressing the nation after his victory, Macron vowed to heal rifts in a deeply divided country.

The 44-year-old president will now have to face the challenge of parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical to ensuring he can realise his ambitions.

Le Pen hailed her result as a “brilliant victory” and vowed to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.

Final figures from Sunday’s vote are due today (Monday).