Europe breathes a sigh of relief as voters in France re-elect Emmanuel Macron to a second 5-year term, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right candidate.
Le Pen, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right leader who downplayed the holocaust, openly sought the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
France 24 reports Macron defeated Le Pen by an almost 20 percentage point margin-58.2 to 41.8 percent.
Le Pen conceded defeat but called her performance a victory because she earned more votes than before in an election that showed a 28 percent drop in voter turnout.
In her concession speech, Le Pen vowed to fight on, but she did not mention Macron or congratulate him.
Macron and Le Pen went to the second round of voting after they topped the vote in the first round involving 12 candidates. Macron received a 27.6 percent share of the first-round vote, while Le Pen scored 23 percent.
Macron’s win is bad news for Putin’s effort in Ukraine. France is now likely to play a more active role in arming Ukrainian resistance against Russia and supporting the US and NATO allies.