President Emmanuel Macron has won France’s presidential run-off, beating far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a race that was overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and saw a surge in French support for extremist ideas, according to exit polls.
If the projections are borne out by official results on Sunday, Mr Macron would be the first French president in 20 years to win a second term, since Jacques Chirac in 2002.
But he would face a divided nation and a battle to keep his parliamentary majority in legislative elections in June.
Five years ago, Mr Macron won a sweeping victory to become France’s youngest president at 39.
The margin is expected to be way smaller this time: Polling agencies Opinionway, Harris and Ifop projected that Macron would win between 57 and 58.5 per cent of the vote, with Ms Le Pen getting between 41.5 and 43 per cent.
Ms Le Pen later conceded defeat in the presidential run-off, handing victory to incumbent Mr Macron.
She said her unprecedented score in a presidential election represents “a shining victory in itself”.
“The ideas we represent are reaching summits,” she said.
