Second Round France Decides

Hello and welcome to a special BBC News programme

We have a very exciting evening ahead of us. Voters have gone to the

polls and in just under half an hour's time we will get a rejection

about who will become the next French president. Voters are

eliminated at the first hurdle the mainstream parties. Over the course

of the last two weeks they have been faced with two candidates who, let's

face it, have given them a diametrically opposed vision. Let's

start with Emmanuel Macron. He would be the youngest president since

Napoleon. He was voting in his hometown, rather nice seaside town.

He wants to shake up French politics. He wants to bring together

he says a coalition of the willing which he said would be able to

reform France. And he wants an open facing France at the centre of a

much more deeply integrated European Union. He is the favourite but he is

up against a woman who needs very little introduction, Marine Le Pen

of the Front National, the self-proclaimed champion of the

forgotten. She was voting in the North where she has been a regional

councillor. She has a very different vision. She would restore the

borders of France. She would limit immigration, she would bring back

the frank, she would give the French people a membership on their

European Union membership and she tells people at the rallies that she

is the only defender of French workers and French factories against

the unbridled globalisation that is offered by Mr Mac run. Let's remind

you of where the poles were on Friday.

This opinion poll by OpinonWay - carried out on Friday -

showed a clear lead for Emanuel Macron, giving him 62%

compared to 38 percent for Marine Le Pen.

Let me introduce you to two peephole, a friend of the BBC and

visiting Professor at Havard University. And a representative of

the polling agency who will hopefully tell us what the French

people are thinking. Looking at the polls, a lot of people think

Emmanuel Macron will be president by the end of this evening. Tell us a

little bit about the initial projection, where does it come from

and how confident can we be in that first one? Those predictions are

based on the ballot counting so in polling stations so we are

interrogating so we are waiting for the closure of each polling station

and we are counting the first 100 or 200 et seq. And then we extrapolate

and we begin to have by the way, an indication of the results. But let's

see. These are strategic polling stations around the country which

you have used before. Going back to 2002, you have more or less got it

right. These predictions are really accurate so no problems for us. Tell

us a little bit about turnout today. It seems to be a bit lower than what

we had in the first round and quite a bit lower than the second-round

vote in 2012. This is a kind of a record because except in 1969, just

after the departure of General De Gaulle, this is a record because

usually the turnout is higher for the second round. But you have

probably followed the campaign between the two rounds, pretty tough

campaign and I think it explains also that many people did not want

to choose between the two candidates. This is the result of

the first round with around four candidates so it is difficult for

them to go and vote for another one. What is at stake tonight, Dominic?

They are two candidates with very different visions of what France

should become. I think what is at stake is not only the future of

France, but to a large extent, the future of Europe, and even broader,

the image of democracy in the world. Can democracies resist successfully

the rise of populism? And if Macron were to be elected, that would give

a message suddenly of optimism that would spread through the entire

democratic world. From that standpoint, this is not a French

election, this is an American type of election in the sense that the

French for the first time are really choosing the path which the world,

the democratic world is about to take. Let me just show our viewers

some maps from 2012 and 2017. This one from 2012 show is half the

country is split between was what land and Nicolas Sarkozy. This is

the 2017 map. We have a large collar of blue in the north-east going for

Marine Le Pen and in the line-up you have Mr Macron. I think we can look

at map out swell. He took 33 districts from Francois Hollande and

this is almost diametrically opposed from 2012. What is going on? You

have a very divided France. It is in four parts and now there are only

two candidates, so a lot of voters will decide they are not represented

by the two that are remaining and either will decide to abstain or it

is going to be probably an important factor in this round of elections,

they have a vote blanc, they can write something which disqualifies

their vote. They don't want to abstain but they do want to vote for

any of the two candidates. That is particularly true if you look at the

vote on the hard left, for Jean-Luc Melenchon. How many will go out to

vote today? 50% of people intended to vote for Macron, but only around

let's say 20% for Marine Le Pen and the rest, so 30% where hesitating.

Maybe more for abstention or more for a blank ballot paper. There was

a hashtag doing the rounds which translated as without me on the 7th

of May. Millions of people of France do not see anyone to vote for in

this second round. This is approved that there is a crisis of politics

which is very serious in France -- this is the proof. The first task of

the future president will be to try and reconcile French people with

politics. I will not say reconcile with politics because French people

are really, really passionate about politics and we saw that during

those weeks, but it is true that the populism and populist candidates and

the most traditional ones, that is also why Emmanuel Macron has emerged

so easily. There are those cracks in our society. But once again, they

are passionate. They want to believe, they still want to believe

in politics because the turnout is really high anyway. They want a

candidate in front of them who can give them this hope. I should just

explain the setting behind us. It is beautiful. If you are wondering what

the flag is, that is to mark the 8th of May anniversary, the victory Day

for France at the end of the Second World War. Some of the steps

underneath will be for the celebration in a few days' time.

Whoever does become president will be inaugurated on a week on Sunday.

At the latest. And the two presidents, the one who is elected

tonight and the former president will be there tomorrow morning to

celebrate together the victory over now to Germany in 1945. OK. Let's

bring in Damian Grammaticus who is in place at the Macron HQ. I would

think given the polling they saw on Friday they would be in a buoyant

mood. They are. This is the Macron rally event which is planned if he

emerges the winner. INAUDIBLE

We are expecting possibly in a couple of hours' time, Mr Macron

will come here, but right now, you have to say, are they excited? There

are crowds of people, young supporters, who have all been given

French national flags. I have to say that is a very multicultural mix...

Damian, I'm sorry to interrupt, we are having some problems with your

line. We will come back to you. As Damian was saying, in case you could

not hear him, the celebrations this evening will be at the Louvre in the

centre of Paris. People are starting to turn up. Lots of people carrying

the French flag. There will be one rally there and one rally in the

east of the city. We will go to Marine Le Pen's camp as an when she

shows up there. Probably sometime in the next half an hour. Let's go to

Bordeaux to speak to new low McGovern. She has been watching

people voting down there. It is the seat of Alan Juppe, he is the mayor.

-- Nuala McGovern. Our people excited to be going out and voting

in the second round. I think they were in the morning. There were a

few stragglers to my left who were popping in to cast their ballots. I

was in the polling station a few minutes ago. I am in the town hall

of this beautiful city right now. Two polling stations inside. Some

people were coming in and saying so sorry I am late. But they were

getting in their ballot. Turnout is no. It is a good few percentage

points down. You mentioned Alan Juppe the mayor. This is his town

hall. He was behind me a few minutes ago as we were watching Damien in

Paris. He has gone into one of the corners here. He has gone to give a

speech at the town Hall at about nine o'clock local time. His podium

is ready and there is a grand chandelier over it. As he made his

way through the courtyard he shook pounds with the police officers who

are providing security which has become a feature at these polling

stations -- he shook hands. I think the mood here is slightly different.

Perhaps people who are coming up taking their time voting, perhaps

more reluctant than the people who were in at the very first thing.

There will be sensibly that there is only a few minutes to go. As we have

seen in the round, projections come very quickly. French media is also

beginning to stream into the town hall. And the Macron headquarters

are not far from here where people will be heading to and also the

offices of the Front National are having a party in Bordeaux. There is

a very wealthy city near -- this is a wealthy city and it is perhaps

insulated from much of France but there are still divisions when it

comes to the candidate and perhaps a lot of resentment which has erupted

throughout this campaign and trying to decide which way France should

go, really from Monday morning. I should tell people that the polling

stations in the towns have closed but in the bigger cities they will

stay open until eight o'clock. That is an hour later than 2012. Because

of the state of emergency security has been very tight? It has. I

mentioned the police officers here. If you go outside the gates

sometimes you will see the military armed guards who are walking

through. It is kind of at odds because you have these beautiful big

squares, small children on their scooters with their parents, perhaps

dropping in to vote but flanked by these military patrols which I

suppose have become part of French life. I have talked about terrorism

and security to some of the voters here. It is not as high on the

agenda as economy and jobs are and also the fact of the EU which these

candidates have very different opinions on but it will also be a

deciding factor. It will be interesting to see how it breaks

down in this region and we know it will not be the socialist or the

Republicans who will be holding the seat. It will be En Marche! Or Front

National. We will find out not too long. Another half hour until we get

some projections. Very much so. All the grandees have gone by the

wayside. Sarkozy, Alan Juppe, Francois fill in and through the

middle has ridden Macron and Marine Le Pen. We will be live at the

Macron and Le Pen headquarters as France waits for those first results

to come in. I had been joined by two more people

who know something about France. Hugh Schofield is our Paris

correspondent and also we have a civil rights campaigner. Tonight's

result will have a direct impact on the future direction of the European

Union ahead. This report on the day's voting from Hugh who has been

out and about in Paris. You join me at a table in a school.

People come to pick up their cards and they go to cast their ballots

behind the curtain over here. A classic snapshot of a presidential

election in France but in some way of the moment is different. One is

that in Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen we have two leaders who are

outside the existing political structures. We have seen a

succession of establishment figures all just discarded as if the only

political offering that has any meaning for people is one that is

entirely new. The other point is in Macron and Le Pen we have two people

who claim to transcend the old left right political divide. They both

claim to drawing supporters from either end of the old political

spectrum. In the new political grid, if you like, they represent very

divergence ends. The pen for the revival of the nation, for borders

and protection and Macron saying no, France have to engage in

globalisation and it has to reform to do that better. In this divide

between the two candidates, we see a fundamental argument about politics,

modern politics, which has resonances well beyond the borders

of France. Some of the thoughts from Hugh

Schofield who has been out and about in Paris today. Let's show you some

of the pictures of the Macron rally which is starting to build up in the

Louvre Gardens this evening. Lots of people. You can see the Tricolore in

full display. That is the glass pyramid. A lot of thought has gone

into where Mr Macron should be this evening. There are lots of locations

where he could have met his supporters. Every election there is

a debate about where it should be. Last time it was in the left wing

territory. With Jacques Chirac it was right wing territory. Macron

likes to call himself neither one nor the other, he has gone somewhere

where he thinks is neutral, the area in front of the Louvre has no

association is one way or the other. You could say it has royalist

connections! But for some reason or another it is not deemed to have any

associations one way or the other, at least, that is the way he is

spinning it. If he had gone to the Bastille or the east of the city

would be seen as the left wing territory and broadly, it is in line

with his new moderate centre. Says scenes of celebration is down there

at the Louvre. How many people do you think in the

suburbs, how much will they be celebrating this evening, given that

if the polls are right, Marine Le Pen has been defeated? The whole

country is not very fond of this election. It began with hysteria and

corruption cases. People were told it was a matter of fact. 60% of

people voted from Macron because they had no other choice. The

country is deeply divided along racial lines. The difference will

not be as big as in 2002 when we had 82% for Jacques Chirac. The losers

of globalisation is, of the working class will be decimated by this

programme. Emmanuel Macron wants to run the country like a start-up

company. The problem is we have seen what that economy does with people

being held hostages because they pay all the social taxes and the emperor

gets away with the profits. This is a problem for a lot of voters in

France, Mr Macron, as Marine Le Pen has tried to paint him, is very much

seen as the continuity candidate, Hugh? You have the extreme right and

extreme financiers, the phrase they have cooked up to paint someone in

the colours of someone who is in the wilder fringes of political life and

therefore dangerous. We do have 50% of the population who voted for

Marine Le Pen or Jean-Luc Melenchon on the far left and the other fringe

candidates so you have over half the country who would not agree with his

broadly liberal views. His argument would be that is precisely what

France needs. It is because of the failure to enact gradual reform of

any kind that we have the blockage and the fight to the extremes. I

guess he was correct, that is not how it is perceived by many, many

people. The great challenge of the next five years is to see if he can

unblock things. He is a magician with words, can he be a magician

with actuality and get the changes which he says are too long in

coming, which should not be too hard if only people of goodwill came

together in the middle. He is a remarkable man and they may be can

bring it. For our viewers who are just joining us we are about seven

minutes away from our first projection. We will get a sense of

which way this presidential election has gone, whether it is Macron or

Marine Le Pen who has been chosen to lead France for the next five years.

What we do know is a revolution in French politics is underway. Neither

candidate represents one of the country's traditional of government.

They got knocked out two weeks ago. Karen Giannone has been out and

about. In this final round of France's

presidential election, voters only have two candidates left to choose

from. But under French electoral law they also have three other options.

First of all there is abstention. The French can choose not to vote,

either out of principle or apathy and this can affect turnout which is

traditionally very high in France. In the last round it was 77.8%. In

ten to 12 it was over 80%. Some think this time around would be the

lowest turnout ever. Voters do have two other choices. One is vote nul,

to simply spoil the ballot paper. But for the first time there is

another choice. The third option is the vote blanc, the black vote. That

means you wanted to take part in the election but you rejected all the

candidates on offer. You can do that by dropping an empty envelope or

blank ballot paper into the box. Under new rules introduced last

year, these votes are counted. While neither candidate can claim them, we

will see the figures show up at the end of all this.

As he was telling us, there will be plenty of people in France who will

be voting for Emmanuel Macron but they do not thoroughly agree with

the policies he puts forward. One poll said 60% of people will vote

for him without fully agreeing with his programme. He is the anything

but candidate, anything to keep up Marine Le Pen and the Front

National. Our other guests are back with us. Either candidate will have

a huge challenge bringing the very divided country back together and of

course, we are looking with one eye at the parliamentary elections in

June. Does it necessarily follow that whoever wins tonight will be

able to win a majority in the country? No, it does not. It

traditionally occurs which means the French tends to be the just lists.

They want to give a majority to the man they have elected as their

president. But this year, it is really so you may not derive from

the past lessons for the future. No, he does not have a majority to

govern tonight. He will have to concur it if he is elected. He has

no politicians in the party so he has to win at least 289 MPs around

the country out of 577, and people will know whatever country they are

in watching around the world, that old parties are deeply embedded in

society is, in different towns insists -- and districts it is not

easy. It is not easy but we do not know the influence on the ground of

this movement, En Marche!. This is a real challenge for him. This is the

third round of the election. He maybe not in an position to confirm.

It could be him, it could be Marine Le Pen, but for both of them they

may not be in a position to govern. The larger, the majority of the

winner, the easier to get a majority because you have a bigger

legitimacy. You can they look, this is the difference between me and my

adverse three being elected significantly or not triumphantly.

You have to give me a majority. The big parties will be licking their

wounds, particularly the Republicans who feel cheated in this election.

They feel this was their election to win and they will not roll over

willingly. I think this will be difficult for the Republicans

because this will be about their unity as well. We have already heard

about rallies for Macron and on the left, there would probably be a

tension between Melenchon's voters and he could legitimately pretend to

be the head of the left and the Socialist parties. Some of them

could be prompted to have a deal with Emmanuel Macron. I think in the

two following weeks will be decisive for everyone. Just very quickly? It

is premature to declare the death of the right and the left in France,

but it is probably right to say the Socialist Party, as it exists is now

that. Yes, the Socialist Party taking just 6% of the vote, a

lamentable 6%. We understand the Socialists will be making a

statement 15 minutes after the first projection comes out. On the right,

Francois Fillon stood aside last week. We understand Mr Barr on is

telling his MPs that they should not fraternise with the party of Mr

Macron. You are watching a BBC News French election special. It is

coming up to eight o'clock here in Paris. The polls have closed around

the country. 66,000 polling stations around the country are closing. The

BBC can now give you the early projections that show that Emmanuel

Macron will be the next president of France. This is the polling

projection that we have, 65.5% for Emmanuel Macron. This is from the

polling agency with us tonight. And 34.5% for Marine Le Pen.

You can hear plenty of people sounding their horns, very pleased

with those rip ports. It is pretty much in line with the polling we

have had throughout the last two weeks. A bit higher than of late.

But the debate has played a crucial role. I think it was clear also that

she probably gets there would be a slight demotivation against her

voters and probably also less people coming from the other candidates

towards her, and I think this would be the contrary for Macron. The

trick will being flown, these are the young Macron supporters, it is

quite extraordinary wireless piety has come from. Truly unprecedented.

It isn't even a party. No, it is a movement. A political fairy tale,

there is no other word to describe it. Someone who was unknown to years

ago that they could be elected tonight with 65.5% of the vote,

which is a very significant victory, which gives him a lot of legitimacy.

Is not really an asset in politics. 39 years of age. I understand he is

the youngest president who will be elected in the top four Western

democracies. The youngest in France since 1848, Louis Bonaparte! It is

very different. He comes not from a great political family, not even

from Paris, but from the provinces. Plus I think also political men is

that position in not the right or the left, and this is also

something. Let's go to the Louvre. They quite like that, Damian.

INAUDIBLE As your guests which are saying...

When we can make contact with him properly we will bring you

something. I think you can get a feeling of what it is like that. We

understand Mr Macron is going to give a more sober speech at his

headquarters in the course of the next half hour before he goes down

to the stage at the Louvre to speak to his supporters. But we were just

talking a bit about the background. When you look back to this time last

year you would have put a fairly big bets on Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine

Le Pen perhaps in the second round, at least somebody from the

Republican party. Of course Nicolas Republican party. Of course Nicolas

Sarkozy was immolated in the primaries. I would've said the

logical favourite was Alain. The oldest, the wisest and of course he

did not make it in the primaries. And of course Francois Fillon had

this family jobs corruption scandal hanging over him. A lot of people

were very bitty about what happened in the Republican party. We will

hear from some of them tonight. The political winds of fortune have been

blowing all the way for Emmanuel Macron. What do you mean? He has

been very lucky throughout. He has come right through the middle,

largely because of the corruption investigation... But also because

during both primaries this is the most left and the most left-wing and

the most right-wing candidates that have been chosen, and that also left

a big space for the centre. That is why once again this is probably the

right guy at the right place at the right moment. There was an alignment

of planets, so to speak, that is unique, but exceptional

circumstances sometimes give rise to exceptional people. And he probably

places himself in a very limited category. There are very few names

that come to mind. Clearly, De Gaulle comes to mind. Bonaparte

comes to mind. Is he that exceptional? He went to an Ivy

then the classical training ground then the classical training ground

for French politicians. Rothschild bank, economy Minister, and in a

short space of time... He must be a very intelligent mind. He is truly

exceptional. To be a high technocrat is easy and from that standpoint his

political views and political background... Here's something more,

something more mysterious. He has an empathy of a political kind which

you would find very rarely. I think in America Bill Clinton had that

kind of empathy with others. There is a huge cacophony of sound around

the Champs-Elysees. People beeping their horns. More so than usual,

this evening. Let's go back to the Louvre and see if we can hear

Damian. We had some problems with communications, but hopefully we can

hear you now. We have had some problems but that is because there

are so many people here who have now streams in and the sound system they

were making so much noise. The excitement here has been, since that

initial prediction came up on the big screens, 65 pop .5% for Emmanuel

Macron, the crowd are delighted. Thereafter hundreds and hundreds of

them, young Macron supporters, very young, have all streamed in, we are

at the bottom end of the Champs-Elysees. They have all been

coming in in the last couple of hours carrying their flags. They are

coming here because they are expecting Mr Macron to come and talk

to them in an hour and a half or so, and they of course were delighted

because that result, 65%, if that is borne out in the final results, that

surpasses anybody's expectations. There was an expectation, if he did

well, according to the projections, he might get around 60%. But voters

today we were talking to were very nervous about the outcome. Here that

65% sent them into ecstasies. Damian, when he comes down of course

a lot of people will be focusing on a lot of people will be focusing on

the woman standing next to him, the woman who is 24 years his senior.

Very influential in his life and he has already said he will give her a

prominent role, perhaps as the real first Lady of France. Yes. This has

been one of the things that people have been very interested in. His

wife. He met her when he was a student, she was a drama teacher, 20

years his senior, already married to someone else. He declared to her

that he would want to marry her and he went through with that. That was

against the wishes of both their families. They won them round. She

married him and they have been together ever since. That has been a

story he has drawn on in this presidential campaign to say

determination he showed them he determination he showed them he

would show again when he was seeking the presidency here. It has become

part of his story. It will be a very interesting change for France if he

does follow through and give his wife that first Lady role, that will

he will bring along with many of the he will bring along with many of the

other changes he proposes. Thank you. That is the picture down at the

Louvre. We will cross shortly to where the camp of Marine Le Pen R.

She is due to appear in front of them in the next half hour. Let's

talk a bit about Marine Le Pen. 35% is probably just below where she

wanted to be. I think they wanted 40%. How will the/ Al reacts, and is

her position as leader secure? I think it is very disappointing for

them. She was hoping for 40%. The end of the campaign was disastrous

for them. The debate on Wednesday, everyone agrees was something that

was a lot of voters off her, and what could have been a really

significant vote at 40%, collapsed in the last few days to 35%. That

said, she still has put on a lot of votes, she is above the 10 million

vote mark which is the first time that has happened for the front

National Al. Is there an alternative? I know there is not a

happy party, the front Nationale. There are people who think the party

should take other roads. We know her niece is very popular among a

certain type of front Nationale voter. But I think what we have to

say what she has done is remarkable and the end of the campaign showed

the limits of the party's repositioning, they remain a party

of protest, they came right to the brink of being a serious party and

ruined it in the debate where she could do nothing but sound. She is

speaking now. She is about to address her supporters.

TRANSLATION: Hello citizens. Overseas, in France and abroad. The

French people have chosen a new president for the Republic and they

voted for continuity. I call Mr Macron to be congratulated on being

elected and I believe in the main interest of the country and

therefore I wish success to him in the face of the challenges that will

face France, and I want to thank the 11 million French people who gave me

their vote, and also the militants who supported me and were walking

along by my side throughout the campaign. And I thank all the people

who supported me in their very brave and courageous choice. Through that

massive and historical choice the massive and historical choice the

French chose the patriot and Republican Alliance as the main

opposition to the project of that new president. The political parties

that have chosen to vote for Macron are no longer legitimate to

represent an alternative force or even a credible position. The first

round showed that there was total decomposition of normal political

French life and the second round is a recomposition rounds that division

between patriots and globalists. It is that's choice that is going to be

presented to the French during the legislative elections. I will be at

the head of that battle to try to have a wider number of people to

choose France, protect its independence, its freedom, is

model, something that concerns asked model, something that concerns asked

in the face of the perspective of this new five-year is. The Front

National is committed in Alliance strategy to renew itself to be

worthy of that historic situation. In the second round. Therefore I

suggest we reorganise a art movement to set up a new political force what

a lot of French people are asking for and what is all the more

necessary for the reconstitution of the country. And all people were

interested in the motherland, they must join us to be involved with us,

because now more than ever France will need you. Long live the

Republic and long live France! APPLAUSE

So there is Marine Le Pen addressing her supporters. She has phoned

Emmanuel Macron in the last few minutes to congratulate him. The

French people, she said, have chosen the continuity candidate. She has

made the point that he is a continuation of the policies of

Francois Ilott. 11 million people voted for her. I want to put that in

context. 4.8 million voted for Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002. Looking

at some of the reaction this evening, the person currently in

charge says she has run a good campaign and it was a good result

for the Front National. Apparently the UK Prime Minister has warmly

congratulated President elect Macron congratulated President elect Macron

on his success. We are also hearing the German Chancellor has tweeted in

congratulation to Emmanuel Macron. The former partner of France were

along and says Mr Macron's victory along and says Mr Macron's victory

signals change in a political generation and signals some hope.

Let's bring some guests back in. We have Sophie who was campaigning for

Jean-Luc Melenchon on the hard left? Just left. Do you get a feeling for

how they voted today? Think the figures you said earlier are clearly

showing that Marine Le Pen is not gaining a lot from the first turn to

the second term, she is gaining 12 points, which means it is mostly

Francois Fillon's voters who drifted towards her, whereas the extension

and the blank vote is very high will stop I think it has not been so high

since 1969 or something like that. That could be a sign of our voters

because I think a lot of people have voted for Macron to kick out Marine

Le Pen but a big part of our population is a bit apathetic

towards Macron's programmes. That is a signal. There is a political

message there that will mean that the first day of Mr Macron, the

first day of his ability to govern, there will be challenges and we have

parliamentary elections. In that election, the duty for our candidate

will be to bring some of the challenges that were completely

absent from this campaign. For example, environmental issues. Not a

single word in the final debate on Wednesday. It is the biggest threat

on this planet, not a single word. When you put your supporters, the 7

million people who voted for Jean-Luc Melenchon with those who

voted for Marine Le Pen and the fringe candidates, nearly 50% of

people have voted for a Eurosceptic candidates. There is a lot of

celebration in Brussels tonight that Mr Macron has won but that is also

tinged with the reality that a good many people here in France have

serious reservations about the European Union project. It is a

factor. Since 2005 when people voted against the constitutional treaty,

and that boat in 2005, it was also put forward, supported by a big

share of the left parties, including Jean-Luc Melenchon at the time. So

being Eurosceptic, I understand this expression and especially I see it

in British newspapers, but it does not have the same... Who is a

Eurosceptic? Someone who has critical regard to what is happening

in Europe? I think this is pretty healthy considering what is

happening. I am afraid on the other hand that Macron will absolutely

change nothing in Europe. If anything, make things worse

actually. For example, the first meeting with Mrs Merkel, what will

he say to her? I'm afraid he will be a new lap dog of this is Merkel.

Very quickly, how many seats to expect to win in the upcoming

elections and would your party work with annual Macron on some of his

economic programmes? It is not a lottery so I am not going to give

you figures, it is clearly too soon to say, but we will be in all 577

constituencies for sure, and no, we will not be able to, especially not

on the economy programme, because as you have seen, one of the first

announcement of Mr Macron was to defend a new Labour reform, done by

decree. So not asking the Parliament position and vote and debate and

push it through, which was the one of the very reasons why a manual

valves was rejected. Sophie, thank you. Let's go to the Marine Le Pen

camp. James Reynolds is there for us. So Marine Le Pen conceding early

this evening on those projections. They are overwhelmingly in favour of

Emmanuel Macron. What will the Front National make of that result? They

will have to look at it in the long term. They will have to measure

their own progress election by-election, decade by decade. They

started in 1974 with 0.74% of the vote. I think this will be complied

with 2002. It looks like Marine Le Pen has by and large double her

father's vote in 2002. This will be a source of optimism but I think

there will be disappointment that they did not reach 40% of the vote.

I don't think they can say they are one step away from winning the next

election, there is clearly a lot more work to be done to persuade

other parts of France that this party is electable. And of course

they will go one, they will go on to the parliamentary elections in

January, in fairly healthy form. They will want to take a number of

seats in the Parliament. Yes, and they start from a meagre base. They

have two MPs out of 577 in the National Assembly. In some ways, the

only way for them is up, but it does give a sense of the amount of work

that Marine Le Pen has to do in order to make sure that her party

becomes the opposition force she wants it to become. You cannot say

you are the main opposition party if you have only got two MPs. Yes, just

looking at some of the other polls as we talk to, we have another one,

pretty similar to the one we have been showing you from Kantar Public,

61% for Macron and 34 for Marine Le Pen. There is another one which has

Mr Macron on 65.9% and slip N on 34.9%. They are all pretty much of a

muchness. They have Mr Macron ahead. When you compare the 11 million

votes that the Front National got in this round with the 4.8 her father

got back in 2002, it does show how the party is performing over the

long-term? That is their point. They are a movement which measures their

progress in decades, not single elections. They got up to 18% in

2002, now they are up to the mid-30s. It is not as much as they

would have wanted this time around, but they would say look at the

long-term trajectory. Look at how they are increasing their vote. They

would also be pleased by the amount of legitimacy they have had. For

years theirs was a fringe movement. A lot of parts of France boycotted

them, ignored them. With nearly 35% of the vote now they will say they

can no longer be ignored. The question is whether Marine Le Pen

can turn to her own supporters and say we are one stop away from

winning the next election. It is hard that someone who got 34% of the

vote can say that. Thank you. Dominique Moisi, I was talking about

the long game for the Front National. Are you in disagreement

with that? It may be the peak of their political life. It all depends

on what happens in the next five years. If there are results, if

unemployment comes down, they will do less in five years from now. It

is the responsibility of Emmanuel Macron. From that standpoint, it

gives us an understanding of what happened tonight. Hope prevailed

over anger, with a little bit of help of fear. A lot of people voted

for Macron because they were scared, they got scared at the very end of

Marine Le Pen revealing the old nature of her party in the debate.

But she has, some would say, detoxified the brand somewhat. She

has got rid of some of the anti-Semitism and the nasty elements

of the party, some would say they are still there but it has become an

electable force. If you look at what happened in 2002, the left grabbed

its nose and voted for Jacques Chirac even though they'd not like

him, this time not so many people felt inclined to vote against her?

That is true but the situation has greatly changed. I am not sure the

DNA of the National Front has changed. In fact, in the debate, she

was her father. There was a brutality, a roster city that

destroyed all the efforts she made during the last five years to appear

more acceptable. The same could be true of Jean-Luc Melenchon, maybe

this is the high point for him? He is getting on. He performed

brilliantly in the election, he took 7 million votes, but what happens to

the movement over the next five years? There is a big difference

also with Marine Le Pen. We will enter the National Assembly for the

first time in reality, so we will be for the first time, in a position to

draft new laws and so on. Of course, Jean-Luc Melenchon is not an eternal

man, his time will come, but we have the new generation ready as you

might have seen in the figures. We are the third political party in

terms of use and support. The new generation is there and the future

stands with us. It is a factual stance. And what he was saying, for

the front Nationale, it is in their DNA to be fascist. You have someone

like the general secretary who said the gas chamber was like some kind

of detail in history, not really sure it existed or something like

that. It is proof that behind there, it exists. Now all the eternal

divisions that Marine Le Pen was able to federate all these people,

especially to support him. Now all the internal divisions will surface.

It will not suffice for Mr Macron to be more of the same. She got well

over 10,000 villages and town halls who voted for the far right, who

voted for something different. It means there is a level of despair

and anger that is there, that has been expressed in the election, and

the problem for Emmanuel Macron, as the new president, is to answer, to

find answers to that anger and that despair. That is pretty much about

jobs, 5 million people without a job, one in four people under the

age of 25 without a full-time job, it is about getting people into

employment? It starts with jobs but it goes much deeper. It requires

consideration, a sense of eternity, meaning that the state takes care of

these people, realises they exist. They are not in a kind of bubble

above them and far from them. I agree with you on this point. The

only disagreement we have is I don't think Mr Macron represents that

changing reality. He was going to apply the old same recipe and the

deregulation programme, the agenda he has in terms of the economy and

Labour reform will be very violent to people. I think it is just a

matter of weeks really to see huge mobilisation, OK, his first few

reforms will be good PR, he is always doing a good communication

campaign, he will change slightly his government, the government with

new faces, a lot of new faces, a lot of women and so on, and then we will

start the big business. When he was the economy minister he brought in

something which would liberate certain sectors of the French

economy and people came out in their thousands to block it and he was

forced to water it down, what will be different when he brings out his

liberalising agenda in the months ahead? He is the president now. He

has been elected with a sizeable majority. He has been carried to

power with a sense of elation and hope for many, fear and despair for

others. This is where we disagree fundamentally. I think it can

succeed and I hope deeply for my country without any ideological

vision that he will succeed, that it is not a matter of principle or

whatever, he can do it. Because other countries in Europe have done

it. Is it about him doing it, or is it about the French accept in

change? Spending, for instance, government spending has risen over

the last ten years from 51 to 57%. The public sector is bloated. The

sort of reforms he is putting forward were a pale imitation of the

reforms Francois Fillon was putting forward?

Coming from a German version, it is understandable for them, but when

you are talking about public services we have a massive

regeneration of our country, we need more employment, more public input,

more jobs in public services, more schools, more hospitals... More

spending will bring more... You are the highest spenders in the world!

It will bring more revenue in the end. What Macron was to do is what

Mr Ronald has been doing. We have more unemployment. 9 million poor

people in this country. The same goes for Germany. Why do you have

anti-European movements so high now? There is a recipe that does not

work. Just to reply to you on one point, the extreme right in Germany

is decreasing significantly. There is a Macron maniac impact as their

is one in Italy with the rebirth of Matteo Darmian say. So from that

stamp point I think he is the right middle ground. Frost while Fillon

was too extreme, to brutal in his approach. But what he was to do he

can do by doing it moderately. We will come back to this. The great

pretender in Italy did not get onto well. Emmanuel Macron, the

39-year-old from the centre-left, projected to get 65.5% of the vote,

in comparison to 34.5% for the far right candidate Marine Le Pen. These

were compiled by the Kantar polling company. They are samples of actual

votes as the public cast their ballots earlier today. A short time

ago, the front National Mall leader conceded defeat. She made a short

phone call to Macron and said this time the French people had chosen

continuity. TRANSLATION: The French people have

chosen a new president for the Republican big voted for continuity.

I phoned him to congratulate him on being elected and I believe in the

main interest of the country and therefore I wished success to him in

the face of the challenges that face France and I want to thank the 11

million French people that gave me their vote. Through that massive and

the Patriot and Republican Alliance the Patriot and Republican Alliance

as the main opposition to the project of that new president. The

political parties that have chosen to vote for Macron are no longer

legitimate to represent an alternative force or even a credible

opposition. The first round showed that there was total decomposition

of normal political French life and the second round is a recomposition

round, that division between patriots and globalists. A fairly

downbeat mood then at the le Pen camp this evening. Let's quickly

show you the pictures down at Toulouse, where they are gearing up

for a big party this evening. -- at the Louvre. This is where Macron

will address the public later. You can see there are bands on the stage

warming up the crowd. I don't think they will need much warming up. You

can see the French flag flying high and people driving around the Arctic

tree on the hind asks sounding their horns. Lots of people in Paris very

voted for Marine Le Pen in the first voted for Marine Le Pen in the first

round. Let's find out what the mood is like in Bordeaux, where Alan

should pay is the mouth. What has been the reaction there? There were

people standing in here cheering as that result came in on the

television of projections for Macron to be the next president of France.

With me I have deputy head of the Macron campaign called En Marche! .

Could you have dreams of this when you're ago? One year ago when the

movement started, I would never have dreams that that kind of trajectory,

which was very good, it was a dream, yeah. What about the figures. We are

looking at approximately 65% to perhaps 34 plus and. Are you happy

with that? I am very happy with it. We were very worried with the angry

feelings of some French who wanted not to vote at all. So we are very

glad that Emmanuel Macron is elected with a big figure of 65%. It is a

good school. But still the 34%, that is the strongest showing there has

been for the Front National. There are so many people that don't want

Emmanuel Macron to be the leader or don't agree with his policies, how

can he overcome that? We are conscious that lots of people

haven't voted for Emmanuel Macron. Others voted for him but are not

very convinced by the platform. So the first big challenge he will have

two face is to reconciliation French society. Bordeaux is when the town,

it is not suffering from some of the issues other pounds of France are,

what you think his biggest challenge is for this region? I think it is

quite the same in the country. On one side you have the countryside

and the other you have big cities. People from the countryside often

feel excluded from the progress and the dynamics of economic 's, and

then I guess the big challenge will be to reconciliation is everybody

and make a big force for France to be united from the countryside and

the big cities for people to feel together, and feel French and feel

together. A year ago people might have expected the mail of this city

to be perhaps the next president. We are here in his town hall, he is

going to give a speech, but we are looking at somebody who has never

been elected before. 39 years of age. Are you concerned about his

inexperience? I feel his age is a good thing for France and one thing

the election this campaign has shown is people want change. They want

change and they don't want any more traditional parties, and for me the

young mess of Emmanuel Macron is a good thing and shows that we can

progress towards a new way. Some would say change brings a lot of

risks. And it can be dangerous. At such a particular time for France, a

state of emergency since 2015, unemployment at 10%, does that seem

to match the one person to be able to conquer? It is not just one

him. I guess that the platform of him. I guess that the platform of

Emmanuel Macron is well-balanced and it is not very risky. He has a big,

great platform for unemployment, against unemployment, he has big

projects also for the economy and so I guess it is not very risky. We

have everything to win with this platform. One woman who is very

happy. Thank you very much on Catherine. Some random members of

the public are counting of ballots. I know we have these projections,

but votes are being counted just next door to hear. You can get more

later from Bordeaux. Thank you. It is interesting, because usually the

publicans and the Socialists do the counting but because they were

eliminated in the first round they did not turn up to count. So they

have been short of people to count in polling stations around the

country. Here are some messages from people speaking to Macron. The

outgoing presidents, whose approval rating is at 14%, deeply unpopular,

he says, all my wishes for the country's success. And also the

former Prime Minister, who really former Prime Minister, who really

counts himself as a social democrat rather than a man of the hard left,

he says, we are aiming at building a large and cohesive presidential

majority in parliament. I salute a beautiful large victory for Emmanuel

Macron. A lot of people have been inspected later in whether he might

go over to En Marche!, might stand for them or at least align himself

with them. Just one other to give you, the Republican's vice

president, says Emmanuelle Macron is president this evening through no

real desire or enthusiasm. For the rightness is no time for resigning

or compromising. Change in power is still possible. The are putting up

putting up a fierce fight. Let me reintroduce you to the

representative from Konta public. Your reaction? There is a little

relief official but at the same time I can't help but think that 11 and a

half million people voted for Marine Le Pen, twice as many as when her

father ran for president, that means many French people support that kind

of idea. At the same time Marine Le Pen said she would reframe her

party. She has been working on mainstreaming her party for years

and now she is going further, meaning she will settle her party

into the French republic. Now the France not an alp has deep roots

into the French landscape. Emmanuel Macron said tonight this was of

victory over hate, a victory for hope and optimism. Do you detect

some of that hope and optimism among those who did not vote? No. I have

seen many people voting for Emmanuel Macron without any enthusiasm. It is

funny for him to say here is the face of China which, he was -- the

face of change, because he was part of the old system and is not

proposing anything radically new. Many people are tired of seeing

people coming from the same school, raised in the same system, they are

willing to see people changing the face of... He is changing the face

but only on the surface. When you go out polling people, do you detect

that people don't really know what Emmanuel Macron stands for? A lot of

people have said his platform has been pretty vague, maybe

intentionally. I think Rob Lee also that explains that only 36% of the

French people are believing in his programme, which will raise problems

afterwards. I think what you just talked about optimism and pessimism

is true because actually there are a big selection, a sort of x-ray, for

the French society, and there are many divided lines. When we see our

polling surveys at Kantar Public, this is when people between future

prospects, people that are able to project themselves into the future,

project their children in the future and the others. You have of course

differences between workers and cultural professionals, etc, between

high and low incomes, but mostly this is about future prospects. This

is about emotion less than a programme. Now I think he will have

to prove also that he substantially has something to bring to the

society and it will be hard. And that is the point. When you look at

the first round vote, nine of the ten districts with the highest

unemployment rates in the country went to Marine Le Pen. There is a

direct correlation between unemployment and the France that NL.

Despair and the feeling that the system does not support a large part

of the population. We need to think about the fact that Macron was not

supported by people who were enthusiastic. Half of the people who

voted for him did so to prevent Marine Le Pen from being elected. It

was not the highest conviction or sentiments that would bring someone

new to the chair. It was not like the first election of Barack Obama.

It was to do something for someone that would prevent is. I think many

people went to demonstrate last year because of many of the policies that

Macron supported in the Government. He will need to face those people

because according what he sounds to be likely to propose, many people

will be angry and he will have to face them in the streets and that is

his next challenge. You are also a civil rights activist. I had an

interesting conversation with a taxi driver. He was Algerian. He was

telling me he does not feel French or Algerian, but stuck in the

middle. In the tenement building he lives in everybody is Algerian. He

says nobody feels like voting for either candidate. They feel totally

cut off from French society. That is a story we have heard time and again

since 2005 and the riots then, from people who live in that area. When

to get a grip of the situation and to get a grip of the situation and

sort out the divisions? I think there is a systemic racism

which needs to be addressed. I have not been hearing anyone address it.

If you are black or Arab and young you are 20 times more likely to be

checked by the police. Now with their sense of urgency it has the

strongest meaning. We need to have politicians who take that into

account. We need policies to make sure everyone in the population,

whether you are black, Arab or Asian, you feel French, you have the

feeling that your life matters as much as the other lives. When he

talks about a renewal in French politics, is there an appetite for

this national debate on you say the racism that there is in French

society, certainly getting into the divisions in the suburbs of the big

cities? I think we need to face our history because France is a

democratic country and it is something which is part of our

history, but whenever you see any major, it is male white people. It

is something which needs to be addressed and something that needs

to be displayed. Everyone needs the feeling of belonging and that is

something which needs to be tackled. Do you have figures about this

issue? I think French people are expecting big changes when it comes

to creating diversity in the political landscape. This was also

promises coming from the left. This was the difference between the two

populism we have in this election, between the right populism, really

Nationale stick, and the populism from the left which is more around

diversity and multiculturalism. I think this is something which is put

on the table right now and needs to be addressed. Well, there will be

many people in that society who will be very pleased that Marine Le Pen

has been defeated in this election. She was quick to concede to Emmanuel

Macron. James Reynolds has been where Marine Le Pen is spending her

evening and he had this reaction as the projections came out. They will

have to look at it in the long term. They will have to measure their

progress and election by-election, decade by decade. They started in

1974 with 0.74% of the vote. In 2002 Jean-Marie Le Pen got 18% of the

vote. It looks like Marine Le Pen has by and large double her father's

vote. That is a source of optimism but I think there will be a

disappointment that they did not reach 40% of the vote. I did think

they can quite say they are one step away from winning the next election.

There is clearly a lot more work to be done to persuade the other part

of France that this party is electable. And they will go one to

the parliamentary elections in January in fairly healthy form. They

will want to take a number of seats in the parliament? Yes, and they

start from a meagre base. They have two MPs out of 577 in the National

Assembly. In some ways, the only way for them is up. It does give you a

sense of the amount of work that Marine Le Pen has to do in order to

make sure that the Front National becomes the opposition force she

wants it to become. You cannot say you are the main opposition party if

you only have two MPs. Just looking at some of the other polls as we

talk to, we have one which is pretty similar to the one we have been

showing you from Kantar Public. 65% for Mr Macron and 34 for Mrs the

pen. -- Marine Le Pen. Another one has Mr Macron on 65.1% and my down

Le Pen on 34.9%. They are all pretty much of a muchness. Really the Front

National would have wanted to hit 40%, but when you compare the 11

million votes that the Front National got in this boat with a 4.8

her father got in 2002, it does show how the party is performing over the

long-term? And I think that is their point. They are a movement which

measures their progress in decades, not single elections. They started

at 0.74%, they got up to 18% in 2002 and they are up to the mid-30s. They

will say look at the long-term trajectory, look at how they are

increasing their vote. They will also be pleased by the amount of

legitimacy they have. They're in mind it was a fringe movement. A lot

of parts of France boycotted them and ignored them. I think they will

now feel they can no longer be ignored. The question is whether

Marine Le Pen can turn to her own supporters say we are one step away

from winning the next election. It is hard to think that someone who

got 34% of the vote can say that. James Reynolds there at Marine Le

Pen's headquarters. Let's take you back to the moment when it was

confirmed that Emmanuel Macron was confirmed as president. This is how

his supporters reacted when the figures flashed up on the screen.

CHEERING An anxious moment perhaps. They've

perhaps knew they were lucky to be celebrating but you can see the

pure, unadulterated joy there. It was an unprecedented election with

none of the candidates from the two major parties. It was a campaign

with twists and turns. TRANSLATION: They are trying to

oppose the -- impose the full veil, prayer in the streets, the

submission of winning, a ban on skirts, banned from work.

TRANSLATION: I have decided I will not be a candidate in the

presidential election, nor will I seek a new mandate as president.

Because of how important this election is, I also want you to know

that I am supporting Emmanuel Macron to lead you forward. En Marche, vive

le France. It has at times been bitterly contested and I am not sure

it has gone the way of healing the divisions in France. I guess we will

see in June when all parties contest 577 seats in parliament. Emmanuel

Macron will need a majority or a least a cohesive coalition in the

parliament in order to force through the platform that he has put

forward. With me on the balcony is Rokhaya Diallo a journalist and

civil rights activist and Guenaelle Gault from Kantar Public. We are

going to talk later at ten o'clock about a poll you have been holding

back. You will tantalise us with a poll on the parliamentary elections

which might give us what, a clue about which way the country will go?

Probably, this is now the new challenge for Emmanuel Macron. We

need to be in mind that there will be a third round. Crucially

important? Once again he may not be in a position to govern, despite the

fact he is president. There are four phases. The first one is a majority.

We will know more about that. The second one is a coalition a bit like

Angela Merkel and the third one is a coalition but depending on the

ideas, projects etc and those two are not at all in our culture as

French people, and the first one, this is accreditation. We have had

right-wing Prime Minister is, and left-wing presidents and vice versa.

We have had this three times. It sits well the French people, less

the politicians! It works well, a grand coalition? Once again it is

not exactly in our culture, but why not? It was not in our culture to

get a very young president so... I would say the coalition worked

rather well in the UK when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats

came together. What is fascinating about the Macron movement, I keep

wanting to call it a party, but it is a movement, it is how it has

grown from the grassroots. One campaign manager said they had

brought in a company which worked for President Obama and they asked

people for just ten, 20, 50 euros contributions. From that they have

been able to spark an incredible movement of young people. There was

that but there was also the fascination of the media which made

Emmanuel Macron very visible in the mainstream media. He made Slimani

covers of newspapers and magazines. He really entered into the French

imagination very quickly. Many people who voted for him, many young

people, because he had in contrary to the other candidates, very

positive speech, positive discourse. Even if I don't really know what he

stands for. It is very vague. You had many people who supported him

but without really knowing what they would get. He had support from other

candidates. It is difficult to see how he will govern because we have

four different hypotheses. We will go to James Reynolds shortly but

there was no pretence at fairness in the media in this second round. They

ganged up behind Emmanuel Macron, do you have a problem with that as a

journalist? People point to the Front National as a fascist party

and we can have a debate about that, but there was no pretence at

fairness, was there? I think it is important to remind people of the

roots of the Front National. Marine Le Pen had been cleaning up the

history of the party but we have to remind people that there were people

related to neo-Nazis. At the same time, the relationship we Marine Le

Pen and journalists is important to focus on. She has been many time

revoking many journalists and not allowing them to cover the stories

from her HQ and that means she is not really supporting the freedom of

the press. We have seen many journalists have been kicked out of

the HQ of Marine Le Pen and she wanted to pick the journalists who

would follow her. OK, thank you. We have a special results programme

now from Paris on the second round of the presidential election.

Emmanuel Macron will become the next president at the age of 39, he is

just about to speak. Let's see what he's saying.

Well actually he's not speaking, what you're actually watching is a

rather peculiar backroom view of his headquarters. I told you he's going

to make a speech, a more sombre speech before he went to the Louvre

for a celebration with his supporters. These are pictures from

outside his HQ. We will dip into his speech. He clearly betting on the

powder and preparing speak any second now. James Reynolds I think

is at Marine Le Pen's headquarters. If we need to interrupt James

Weighell. We were just talking about this treatment of Marine Le Pen in

the mainstream media in France and I made the point, and she's made it

many times that there was no real pretence of fairness about how she

was covered -- James Reynolds. What are they saying at the pen

headquarters? Much the same thing. The media may say that the coverage

was fair but the media in the second round have been accused of peddling

propaganda against Le Pen Sochi has not got her message. That is a

message that a lot of the supporters of the party have said. The media

have said they were simply investigating the policies of the

Front National. Seeing whether what it is saying now stood up to what it

has said in the past. We're just watching the French television

because we're waiting for Emmanuel Macron to appear. As we wait for

him, Marine Le Pen obviously had some idea that this wasn't going to

be her victory tonight because the party at Marine Le Pen headquarters

was to be brought to a close at 10pm, so they obviously had a spear

through the day that it wasn't going their way? This is a small venue. If

you were looking for a venue in which to hold a medium-sized

wedding, this is where you would come. It isn't a huge campaign venue

at all. So when we got here, the smallness of the venue gave an

indication of what the campaign was thinking. They put out several dozen

supporters in front of Marine Le Pen and on the stroke of the results

being predicted, they were booing. She gave a speech but it was an

important speech, talking about transforming the movement. I spoke

to a senior official who said that it would be a new party under a new

name but with many of the same ideas. I said that if it is the same

party it is the same ideas but he said others would join them. They

must reflect on this, is 35% good enough? They may have wanted 40% to

make sure she is unequivocally the opposition leader. Is 35% enough to

say you are the opposition leader to put you one step away from the 2022

election? We'll have to find out. That's an interesting thought. She's

had a very public row with her father, D Marine Le Pen, saying that

she hasn't run a very good campaign -- Jean-Marie Le Pen. She is saying

that she doubled his vote in 2002. He barely increased the Front

National's vote in the second round but she doubled that this time and

this is what they are clinging onto, saying yes, it is a loss but it is a

success because they have doubled the second round performance and

from their point of view they have smashed the Republican front by

which the other parties would unite against the National Front. They

believe they have put a crack in that tonight. I am just keeping and

I on the projector down here because Emmanuel Macron is going to talk and

we want to bring in his speech. He seems to be rehearsing at the

moment. We'll just remind you of the projections we've had, pretty

convincing. According to the projections we've seen, 65%, Macron,

and Marine Le Pen, 34%. TRANSLATION: Gratitude, it is a great honour and

a great responsibility because nothing was written in advance and I

would like to say thank you to you, thank you from the bottom of my

heart. My gratitude is for those of you who voted for me and supported

me. I will never for get you. I will put all my efforts, all my care to

be worthy of the trust you put in me. But it is to all of you, the

citizens of my country, that I wish to speak, whatever your choice.

There were lots of problems that made us weak for too long and I'm

aware of all of them, economic difficulties, social problems,

democratic difficulties, the moral weakness of the country. And

tonight, I want to tell you in the Republican spirit, Marine Le Pen was

my adversary. I know... I note the rage, the society, the doubt that

many of you expressed. It is under my responsibility to hear them and

to protect the weakest and to organise solidarity and fighting

against any form of discrimination and inequality and making sure in a

resolute way that your security will be guaranteed. And I will also

guarantee the unity of the nation. Because behind the words I've just

pronounced I know full well that there are faces, there are men and

women and children, there are families, their whole lives and

behind that, it is you and all the people around you. Tonight, it's to

all of you that I'm speaking. Because altogether, you make up the

population of France and we have a duty in relation to our country, we

are the heirs of a grand history with a humanistic message to the

world, it is our duty to pass it on to our children first but also, more

important, we have to carry it into the future. We've got to give it new

blood. And I will protect and defend France, its vital interests, its

image, its message, it's a commitment I take before you. I will

defend and protect Europe, the common destiny that the people on

our continent have voted upon. Our way of living, of being free, of

carrying together our enterprises and hopes. And I want to make

stronger the link between Europe and the countries and government that

make Europe and its citizens. To all of the nations of the world, I give

the salute of the friendly France, a brotherly France and I say to the

head of these countries that France will be there to defend peace and

international cooperation and the commitment taken regarding climate

change. And to all of you I am saying that France will be in the

first place to fight against terrorism in France but also at

international level. For as long as that but all must last, we will be

there fighting, without any weakness. My fellow citizens, it is

a new page in our long history that is being turned tonight and I want

that page to be a page of hope and trust recovered. The renewal of our

public life is something that's going to start from tomorrow onwards

and people list approach -- pluralistic approach will be the

basis of our action and I won't be stocked by any difficulty or

obstacle. I will act in a determined manner that is respecting all of you

because food work, through school and culture, that's how we're going

to build a better culture -- because through work. To all of you, people

in France, my fellow citizens, tonight I would like to salute

President Hollande because he has worked for our country for the last

few years and for the next five years, my responsibility is going to

be to calm fears and make us believe in optimism again and to recover the

conquest there it which is the best definition of the French spirit --

the conquest spirit. I will gather together the men and women who are

ready to face the challenges that we have to expect. Some of these

challenges are also pieces of luck, like the digital revolution,

restarting Europe, and others are threats, like terrorism. I will

fight, I will fight with all my strength against the division which

is so deleterious to us and that is how we are going to give to the

French nation, to all of you, in his professional life, in its personal

life, the chances that France owes to its citizens. Let's love France

from tonight and for the five years to come. In a very humble way, we

have total devotion and determination. I'm going to serve

our country, going to serve France. Long live the Republic and

long-lived France. So, Emmanuel Macron making a very sober statement

at his headquarters. I was thinking, very different to what we saw in

2012 when President Hollande became president. On that occasion he was

in the south of the country. He had a constituency which Macron doesn't,

he has never been elected. He went to speak to his supporters down

there and then he went to Paris and he made speeches from the stage. He

made very clear that as a 39-year-old man he wanted to make a

sober and serious statements to unite people before he heads here to

the Louvre. You can see the pictures from the Louvre where they will be a

big celebration. I'm joined by a journalist and broadcaster.

Christine, no great surprises, we thought this may happen two weeks

ago, that Macron would be the next president. He is two years younger

than the average person in France. It may not be a surprise to us, but

it is a huge achievement. It is unheard of in the political history

of this country. He is a man, 39 years old, the youngest ever, who

has just talked about hope in this nation. All of this grumbling, so

pessimistic about itself. Now, this country has the face of a young man

who talks about hope. This performance, having no constituency,

having never been elected to office before... 13 months ago when he

launched his movement, the chattering class in Paris were

sneering saying, who does he think he is? Well, he's the president. Of

course he has had an incredible series of Lucky strikes because no

one would have imagined this presidential campaign to have so

many... The wings of fortune. He was courageous when he launched his

party and he took the right opportunity and the right time. Luck

is also a big part of political life. Behind him, the French flag

and the European flag. We are told he will make his first visit as

president to soldiers, probably overseas, and then to Berlin to see

Angela Merkel and there will be many people in Brussels who are going to

be breathing a sigh of relief this evening. Yes, for two reasons, this

is a clear victory against Euro phobia. France, as in many other

countries, you have a lot of Euro scepticism but that is different

from Euro phobia. Euro phobia we have seen in the UK, unfortunately.

It means that you hate Europe so much that you want to leave it.

Tonight it's clear that part of Mr Macron's victory against Le Pen is a

victory against Euro phobia. The French don't want to leave the the

EU, they don't want to leave the European Union, they want to remain

but they can still be Eurosceptic, that will be a challenge for Macron.

There is something more that Christine told us about, it's trying

to fight against Franco scepticism. This is painful for this country.

Trying to promote what he called a more proactive and positive optimism

in the future, yes, we can. This was part of his campaign and part of his

success is connected to it. Easier said than done. These turning points

are to be noted in France as regards Europe and the world. You will both

access that when you look at the first round vote and who voted for

Le Pen and some of the other candidates, nearly 50% of the French

people were Eurosceptic? When you look at the motives for which voters

supported Macron in the first round, you don'ts Europe first. So you

shouldn't over interpret those voting for Macron as pro-Europe and

those voting elsewhere as anti-Europe. There is more Euro

scepticism in France than there was ten years ago, it's true. Macron's

Challenge Cup the first and foremost is a national challenge, regarding

education, unemployment, taxation, social protection, these are a

national challenge is to be fixed with international solutions. Euro

scepticism had nothing to do about that. Do you think that the French

people want more Europe? Is this campaign was about a deeply

integrated and reformed Europe, but more deeply tied together. -- this

campaign was about. Europe has been the scapegoat of the Euro phobia as

well as a degree of Euro scepticism. But the French have very

contradictory feelings about that. When you look at the Europe

Boerrigter, a majority of the French are a pro-Europe and more than two

years ago -- when you look at the French barometer. They don't want to

leave Europe, which is why Marine Le Pen fumbled about that issue. The

issue is very much the reforms that France must conduct and neither

Hollande zero Sarkozy were able to put through. So Europe became a kind

of facade, it's because of Europe, but no, it is because France did not

conduct the reforms that were conducted in Germany, Italy, Spain,

even in Britain in the 1970s. So there is a confusion, it seems to

me. A lot of political exploitation, as if all of the problems of France

were because of Europe. It's not true. The problems are due firstly

because of the difficulty in this country to reform and that will be

Macron's main challenge, how to conduct reform, starting with very

stifling Labour laws, for instance, and how to proceed with a

parliamentary majority which will be decided by these forthcoming

elections in June. We will talk more in a moment. Let's hear from the

Marine Le Pen camp because James Reynolds has been there and he's

been speaking to the election coordinator. We have 35% of people

who are convinced of our programme. It's not the case of Mr Macron, who

has 65% of the vote, but 60% of his voters voted against Marine Le Pen.

In any Western democracy, a 30 point loss is a huge loss. No, I don't

think so, it depends on what's going to happen in the next weeks because,

as I said, only 40% of the voters of the manual macro -- of Emmanuel

Macron voted for his policies. One must look to the political dynamic.

Today is not the end, it is a start, a beginning and we have a political

basis on which we can construct an alternative to Mr Macron's ideas.

Marine Le Pen at the podium talked about transforming her movement.

What did she mean by that, a new party? Yes, a new political

movement, a new political alliance that will gather all figures and

leaders, all the parties that are convinced by the a patriotic idea.

Which ones? One party got 5% of the vote in the first round. Many

Republicans... Was tonight the end of the Front National, the party

founded in 1972? No, because the Front National is only a name. If

you look at the political and humanly a la tea, this is going to

be the hard-core of a big movement -- political and human reality.

Critics will say that they can see through a name change. If the

policies are the same, if some of the policies towards minorities are

the same, then the name doesn't matter, the problems remain. We are

not against minorities, we want to restore the French identity and

French sovereignty. France, when it was proud of its ideas, was never

against minorities. I am from a minority and I am close to Marine Le

Pen. What you say now epitomises the propaganda that was made against us

between the two rounds of the election. We have been criminalised

because we have been treated like Nazis, the extreme right. Of course

when you repeat this every day and night, you win the ballot. At Marine

Le Pen's headquarters. Some news from Nigel Farage, who gave his

support to Marine Le Pen. He is quoted as saying that Mr Macron

offers five more years of failure, more power to the EU and the

continuation of open borders. If marine sticks in there she can win

in 2022. That's the opinion of Nigel Farage. The projection we have so

far, you'll see that according to the pollsters that are helping us

this evening, they predict that Emmanuel Macron has taken 65.5% of

the vote compared to 34.5% of the vote for Marine Le Pen. She got 11

million votes. Quite a sizeable chunk more than her father got in

2002, he got 4.5 million then. Although she has a lot of criticism

from her father in recent days, Christine she can say that she has

done better than him. She also killed her father politically, which

is how she managed to weaken the far right to a point. How awful

performance in the TV debate, the violence, the vocabulary, you know,

the old style French far right, going back before World War II, it

came back. But she is a formidable politician. There's no reason not to

acknowledge that her performance has been remarkable altogether. 11

million people voting for her. It will be interesting to see how many

seats the far right will get in the next National Assembly because again

we have a voting system that is so different from yours, which always

favours the main parties. For the time being, the FN only has two

seats in the National Assembly so interesting to see how more she

gets. But it is obvious that she has managed to actually impose the far

right's themes, the populist themes, always to talk about identity,

protectionism, fear, we are all in decline, and these things will

indeed remain in the national debate. That's the point, isn't it,

regardless of the result this evening she has had an effect on

this election because in large part she has moved the debate to the

right. You mentioned Nigel Farage. Ukip, he only had one seat,

sometimes two in the chamber. And he managed... Why does he bother about

winning elections in Britain? What is at stake is not the institutional

victory because it is difficult for Marine Le Pen to win. We have seen

this in 2015, in the regional elections she couldn't win. It isn't

the institutional victory she is expecting, it is a political one.

She has succeeded partly. What will be very challenging in the next few

weeks and months will be to see how the traditional right will be --

traditional right will behave. Just time to tell you that Donald Trump

has been on Twitter, he likes to do that! Tweeting his congratulations

to Emmanuel Macron on his big win, saying he looks forward to working

with him. Someone who showed some support for Marine Le Pen over the

last few days but sending a warm message to Macron. We are expecting

Mr Macron to turn up at the Louvre over the next half an hour and we

will have plenty more analysis for you.

Labour says it will not raise income tax for anyone earning less

than ?80,000 a year as part of an election pledge

The Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, said those earning

over the ?80,000 threshold would be asked to pay "a bit more"

The Conservatives say they have no plan to raise income tax but have

so far refused to completely rule it out.

Our Political Correspondent Ben Wright reports.

It was a slogan used by Tony Blair, now revived

Setting out what he called a big deal to upgrade the economy,

John McDonnell promised not to raise VAT or national insurance

for anyone, but said the top 5% of earners would pay more.

If Labour is elected next month, we will guarantee for the next five

years, there will be no income tax rises, for all those earning less

Labour is now the party of low taxes for middle and lower earners.

Mr McDonnell said people earning more than ?80,000 a year would pay

a modest amount more but the rates and details would have

The Conservatives have promised not to raise VAT but have so far made no

matching pledge on national insurance or income tax.

Today, the Tories said Labour was going back to the past.

They want to raise taxes, they want to penalise business,

they want to penalise wealth creation and I think they will end

up wrecking the economy as they have done in the past.

The total amount of income tax raised in 2016 is

The top 5% of UK earners, Labour's target group for tax rises, paid

just over 47% of that, close to ?80 billion.

You cannot make a really big change to the amount of money

that is available just by focusing on people over 80,000 a year,

partly because they already pay an awful lot of tax and a lot more

than they did a few years ago, but partly because if you really

want significant amounts of money, you have to do something

the politicians don't like doing, which is hit the majority of people,

which is where VAT and the national insurance and a lot of income

You are pledging to increase tax on high earners have to pay

for public services and borrow billions for infrastructure,

but that has been Labour's message since Jeremy Corbyn became leader.

Why do you think it can turn things around for Labour in the last four

weeks of this general election campaign when it seems it

I think there is an opportunity now in the general election campaign

which we have not had before since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader.

I think we can turn the polls around and I genuinely think we can secure

Many of the bankers and financiers who work here would pay more income

tax under Labour's plan and this is the first general

election for many years, when there is a stark choice

developing between Labour and the Conservatives with how

the economy should be run and how money should be raised and spent.

The Liberal Democrats say their manifesto will include

a commitment to keep the "triple lock" on pensions

This would guarantee they rise by as much as wages,

inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest.

But pensioners with annual incomes above ?45,000 would lose

Labour has also pledged to retain the triple lock;

Theresa May has declined to say whether the Conservatives

More than eighty Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped

by the militant group Boko Haram have met the country's President

after being freed in a prisoner swap.

The girls from Chibok were among more than two-hundred

The government says they'll be given medical checks before being reunited

Around 100 others are still being held.

Welcome back to our special results programme, I am Christian Fraser in

Paris, the city looking resplendent tonight, this is the Arc de

Triomphe, the flag fluttering there has been hung for the celebrations

tomorrow, May eight. It will mark the anniversary of the end of the

Second World War, May eight, 1945 victory Day in France and indeed

Francois Hollande the outgoing president and the President elect

Emmanuel Macron will be here tomorrow at the flame of the unknown

soldier. The first official duty of Emmanuel Macron as President elect

and we understand that Francois Hollande perhaps the next table go

to say goodbye to the German Chancellor. We are expecting

Emmanuel Macron to appear at the Louvre for the party already

underway. If you are just joining us, he's set to become the next

president, at 39 the centrist party leader will become the youngest

president of France since 1848 when the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte was

the leader. He has beaten the far right candidate Marine Le Pen and

has taken more than 65% of the vote according to exit polls. Marine Le

Pen has conceded defeat but told supporters that with 11 million

votes the Front National was now clearly the main party of

opposition. British Prime Minister Theresa May has congratulated the

President-elect on his success, saying France is one of our closest

allies and we look forward to working with the new president on a

wide range of shared priorities. There's also been a message from the

German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said the win was a strong victory

for a strong and united Europe. And in the last few minutes the

President of the United States Donald Trump has also congratulated

Mr Macron and says he looks forward to working with him in the near

future. Let's just remind our selves of those projected results. If you

are just joining us you will see on your screens that Mr Macron took

65.5% of the vote. That's the latest projection, compared to full Marine

Le Pen. There are horns sounding behind us, people are flying the

French flag out of the windows of their car. With me is a well-known

journalist, Christine, and Yves from the Jacques Delors Institute.

Emmanuel Macron spoke earlier about the responsibilities of becoming

president of France. TRANSLATION: A long page in our history is being

turned tonight and I want that page to be a page of hope and trust

recovered. The renewal of our public life is something that is going to

start from tomorrow on what and the great pluralist approach and

vitality will be the basis of my action and I will not be stopped by

any difficulty or obstacle. I will act in a determined manner but

respecting all of you, because through work, through school,

through culture, that is how we are going to build a better future. To

all of you, people of France, tonight, I would like to salute

Francois Hollande because for five years he has worked for our country.

And for the next five years my responsibility is going to be to

calm fears and to make us believe in optimism again, and to recover the

conquered spirit which is the best definition of the French spirit. My

responsibility will be to gather together all the men and women

willing to face the challenges that we have to expect. Some of these

challenges are also pieces of luck like the digital revolution, the

restart of Europe, and others are threats, like terrorism. I will

fight. I will fight with all my strength against the division which

is so delirious to us. And that is how we are going to give to the

French nation, to all of you in its professional life, and its personal

and familial life, the chances that France owes to its citizens. That's

love France and from tonight and for the five years to come. -- lets love

France. In a very humble way but with total devotion, with total

determination, I am going to serve our country, to serve France on your

behalf. Long live the Republic and long-lived France. Emmanuel Macron

speaking earlier. Let's chill you the pictures of the Louvre. A real

party is underway. Thousands of people there. You will I'm sure be

familiar with the glass pyramid in front of the Tuileries Gardens. Will

speak to Damian Grammaticas who is there in a second. Just watching the

scene that there are a lot of people heading down the Champs-Elysees

towards the Louvre and when he appears there in about half an hour

he will get quite the reception. Earlier the National front leader

Marine Le Pen did have something to say about the result,

she did phone Mr Macron to concede having seen the initial projections,

let's hear from her. TRANSLATION: The people have chosen a new

president. I called Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on being

elected. Believe me come in the main interests of the country, I wish him

success in the face of the challenges he will face and I want

to thank the 11 million French people that gave me their vote.

Through that massive and historical choice, the French shows the Patriot

and Republican Alliance as the main opposition to the project of that

new president. The political parties that have chosen to vote for Mr

Macron are no longer legitimate to represent an alternative force or

even a credible opposition. The first round showed that there was

total decomposition of the normal political French life and that

second-hand is a recomposition round, but division between patriots

and globalists. Marine Le Pen trying to take comfort

from the 35.5% of votes she won, long way behind Emmanuel Macron.

Emmanuel Macron is at the Louvre, there can't be many better settings

for a party like this one, getting underway, Damian Grammaticas. Yes,

you've just joined us as the party is really kicking into gear. The

bands have been on stage and they are getting louder and louder. The

crowds here, hundreds of them, they've all been waving their flags,

there was a moment when everyone waited for the polls to close and

the projection to go on screen. There was a big cheer from here and

then the party began. When Mr Macron are delivered his first speech whole

place fell silent and everyone listened, which is quite

extraordinary actually. Everyone taking in his message about how he