It’s hard to feel much sympathy for the people of France, as after five years of disastrous rule by Emmanuel Macron, the French re-elected him.
Mr Macron, the 44-year-old centrist, won with a 58.5% share of the vote – beating the far-Right Ms Le Pen, 53, on 41.5%, according to exit polls.
In an ambitious victory speech, Mr Macron said: ‘From now on I am no longer the candidate for a party. I’m everyone’s President!’
He conceded that France was ‘full of anger and division’, but pledged: ‘Nobody will be left by the wayside.’
Mr Macron arrived at a rally on the Champ de Mars, underneath the Eiffel Tower, an hour-and-a-half after the result was called.
To rapturous cheers and applause, he held hands with his wife, Brigitte Macron, as Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – the European Union anthem – blasted out of speakers.
Making his way up to stage with giant screen behind it, he said: ‘Thankyou!
‘Thank you, dear friends, fellow citizens, here tonight in Paris, and everywhere in France and our overseas territories and abroad, before anything else let me say thank you.
‘After five years of difficult but happy transformation and exception challenged this date – 24 april 2024 – a majority amongst us chose me to pilot the Republic for the next five years.’
Wearing his trademark blue suit and tie, he continued: ‘Together we can make France more independent and Europe stronger. By freeing our creativity, we can make France a great, green nation.
‘I know a lot of people voted for me tonight, not because of my ideals, but to block the far-Right. I have been entrusted with their sense of duty for the next five years.’
Nobody will be left by the wayside. Except, of course, the native people of France, who are expected to suffer their ongoing invasion in humble silence.