Live Updates: Allies Hail Macron’s Re-Election in France

President Emmanuel Macron speaking in Paris on Sunday after his re-election victory.Credit…Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

PARIS — France and the world took stock on Monday of President Emmanuel Macron’s decisive re-election, a triumph for his centrist, pro-European policies and a relief for Western allies, even though the result was clouded by a best-ever showing for the far right.

Mr. Macron became the first French president since 2002 to win a second term, with 58.5 percent of the runoff vote, against 41.5 percent for the right-wing challenger, Marine Le Pen, according to final results from the Interior Ministry. It was a greater margin of victory than predicted by polls after the first round of voting two weeks ago.

Emmanuel Macron is projected to have won the election based on preliminary vote counts. Official results will appear above as the votes are counted.

Congratulating Mr. Macron on Twitter, President Biden called France “our oldest ally and a key partner in addressing global challenges.”

“I look forward to our continued close cooperation — including on supporting Ukraine, defending democracy, and countering climate change,” Mr. Biden wrote.

But Mr. Macron’s victory was also narrower than in 2017, when he first faced off against the anti-NATO, pro-Russia Ms. Le Pen. Fewer voters backed Mr. Macron this time around, as the highest abstention rate for a runoff presidential election in half a century — 28 percent — pointed to rising political disillusionment and economic grievance.

Clément Beaune, Mr. Macron’s junior minister for European Affairs, acknowledged on CNN that France was “divided” and “worried,” especially about pocketbook issues such as the cost of living and energy prices.

“Now we have to work on this,” Mr. Beaune said on Monday.

St.-Denis, a Paris suburb, on Sunday. French voters remain “divided” and “worried” about issues such as the cost of living and energy prices, a member of Mr. Macron’s government said.Credit…Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times

“Big victory, big challenges,” was Monday’s headline in Le Figaro, a right-leaning daily. The left-leaning Libération noted the widespread frustration with Mr. Macron and hailed the “political maturity of the French people who, sometimes while holding their noses, mobilized to refuse the chimeras of far-right populism.”

In the city of Rennes and in Paris, small demonstrations against Mr. Macron’s re-election briefly turned violent on Sunday night as protesters clashed with riot police officers, leading to a few arrests.

France’s political forces now turn their attention to the elections for the lower house of Parliament in June, a crucial test for Mr. Macron, whose coalition holds a strong legislative majority. Results then will determine how much leeway he has to continue pursuing his domestic agenda.

Mr. Macron’s first priority will most likely be to push through a new relief package for French consumers, including measures to increase pensions and some welfare benefits, extend energy subsidies and beef up a policy that allows companies to grant workers tax-free bonuses. In the fall, Mr. Macron is expected to tackle one of his most contentious plans: increasing the legal retirement age.

Ms. Le Pen will seek to remain in Parliament, where she has occupied a seat since 2017, a top official in her National Rally party, Louis Aliot, told the radio station France Inter on Monday. Her party got only a handful of lawmakers elected that year and hopes to build on her presidential showing.

“Now it is another election that is starting, and more important, it is 577 elections that are starting,” Mr. Aliot said, referring to the number of seats that will be up for grabs.

Even some of Mr. Macron’s supporters were doubtful that he would obtain the same sweeping majority as he did in 2017, when many political newcomers rode the wave of enthusiasm he generated into office.

At Mr. Macron’s victory celebration on Sunday on the Champs de Mars in Paris, where people danced and waved French flags in the shadow of an Eiffel Tower sparkling with lights, the mood was relief more than jubilation.

Dustin Bourgeois, 23, an air traffic controller, said that Mr. Macron was the “most reasonable, most stable” leader for the country. But he added, “There are two camps today in France: the extremes and the center, not to mention those who abstained.”

Of the legislative elections, he said: “I think it’s going to be different, and that worries me. It’s going to be hard.”

Adèle Cordonnier contributed reporting.

French and European Union flags at the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, as the results of the second round of France’s presidential election were announced.Credit…Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

BRUSSELS — There were sighs of relief throughout the European Union after President Emmanuel Macron beat back a serious challenge in France from the populist far-right champion, Marine Le Pen.

“Europe can breathe,” said Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, a pro-European research center.

Officials in Europe were also relieved that Slovenia’s populist, three-time prime minister, Janez Jansa, lost to a loose coalition of centrist rivals in parliamentary elections on Sunday, a development that means he is almost sure to be replaced as prime minister when a new government is formed.

But Ms. Le Pen’s strong showing was also a reminder that populism — on both the right and the left — remains a vibrant force in a Europe, with high voter dissatisfaction over rising inflation, soaring energy prices, slow growth, immigration and the bureaucracy emanating from E.U. headquarters in Brussels.

After the retirement late last year of Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of Germany, a re-elected Mr. Macron will inevitably be seen as the de facto leader of the European Union, with a stronger voice and standing to push issues he cares about — a more robust European pillar in defense and security, economic reform and fighting climate change.

But analysts say he must also learn lessons from his first term and try to consult more widely. His penchant for announcing proposals rather than building coalitions annoyed his European counterparts, often leaving him portrayed as a vanguard of one, leading with no followers.

Emmanuel Macron defeated his far-right challenger, Marine Le Pen, becoming the first French president to be re-elected since 2002.CreditCredit…Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

“Europe is central to his policy and will be in his second term, too,” said Jeremy Shapiro, research director for the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. “In the first term, he underachieved relative to his expectations on Europe — he had a lot of grand plans but failed to create the coalitions he needed, with Germany and the Central European states, to implement them.”

Mr. Macron “knows that lesson and is making some efforts in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine,” Mr. Shapiro said. “But he’s still Emmanuel Macron.”

In his second term, Mr. Macron “will double down” on the ideas for Europe he presented in his speech to the Sorbonne in 2017, “especially the idea of European sovereignty,” said Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, director of the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund.

But in his second term, she predicted, he will be more pragmatic, building “coalitions of the willing and able” even if he cannot find unanimity among the other 26 E.U. members.

France holds the rotating presidency of the bloc until the end of June, and one of Mr. Macron’s first priorities will be to push forward an oil embargo on Russia, Ms. de Hoop Scheffer said, a move that has been complicated by the fact that many in the bloc are reliant on Moscow for energy.

The climate agenda is important for him, especially if he wants to reach out to the angry left and the Greens in France. And to get much done in Europe, he will need to restore and strengthen the Franco-German relationship with a new, very different and divided German government.

“That relationship is not easy, and when you look at the Franco-German couple, not a lot keeps us together,” Ms. de Hoop Scheffer said.

There are differences over Mr. Macron’s desire for more collective debt for another European recovery plan, given the effects of war. There is also a lack of consensus over how to manage the response to Russia’s aggression, she said — how much to keep lines open to the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, and what kinds of military support should be provided to Ukraine in the face of German hesitancy to supply heavy weapons.

Germany is also much happier to work in wartime within NATO under American leadership than to spend much time on Mr. Macron’s concept of European strategic autonomy, she noted.

If Mr. Macron is clever, “French leadership in Europe will not be followership by the other E.U. countries but their empowerment, by their commitment to a new European vision,” said Nicholas Dungan, a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. “Macron can do this.”

Marine Le Pen conceded to Mr. Macron on Sunday. As the runoff drew closer, Ms. Le Pen’s polling numbers had steadily decreased.Credit…Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times

PARIS — A decades-long supporter of Marine Le Pen, Béatrice Roullaud looked slightly despondent: her candidate had just lost in France’s presidential election, for the third time in a row.

“Can you realize? I’ve been voting for Le Pen for 40 years and my voice has never been heard,” said Ms. Roullaud, 61, as she paced back and forth Sunday outside of the event where the National Rally, Ms. Le Pen’s far-right party, had invited hundreds of supporters on election night.

Ms. Roulaud’s views echoed those of several supporters interviewed on Sunday who had hoped that this presidential run might be different. Ms. Le Pen, she said, appeared more rigorous, more prepared to face Mr. Macron, more up to the task of the presidency.

Ms. Le Pen’s defeat — she garnered 41.5 percent of the vote, compared to 58.5 percent for Emmanuel Macron — capped a monthslong push that saw her come closer to gaining power than any far-right French leader since World War II, before she crumbled in the last days of campaigning.

Up until the first round of voting on April 10, Ms. Le Pen’s campaign had successfully advanced a longtime strategy of sanitizing her public image in order to attract a broader swath of voters. She abandoned certain ideas — such as leaving the eurozone — that had alienated mainstream voters, while clinging to hard-line stances on crime and immigration that certified her far-right credentials.

Ms. Le Pen’s early emphasis on pocketbook issues proved prescient, as the soaring prices of energy and some basic consumer goods because of the war in Ukraine made purchasing power a major campaign issue.

“There was no mistake, she had a good strategy,” Thierry Mariani, one of the National Rally’s top leaders, said at the Sunday night event. What kept her from ultimate victory, he added, was what he called “a glass ceiling entertained by some McCarthyism” from journalists, intellectuals and mainstream parties who denounced her ideas as a threat to France.

But in the two-week campaign leading up to Sunday’s runoff, Ms. Le Pen’s attempts to normalize her image faltered as she came under greater scrutiny. Two news conferences partially dented her credibility: in one, she detailed controversial plans for “a strategic rapprochement” with Russia; in another, her party’s refusal to accredit certain media outlets prompted questions about Ms. Le Pen’s commitment to democracy.

“After the first round, I saw things changing,” Ms. Roullaud, the longtime supporter said, noting that Ms. Le Pen had been suddenly “re-demonized” in the public’s eyes.

As the runoff drew closer, Ms. Le Pen’s poll numbers steadily declined. She appeared to struggle to match the pace of Mr. Macron’s campaign, as he scoured the country, often engaging with angry voters, in a last-ditch attempt to woo left-wing constituents.

In her concession speech, Ms. Le Pen called on her supporters to quickly refocus on June’s parliamentary elections, which could bolster her party’s legislative power.

Despite her defeat, she said on Sunday that she could not help but feel “a form of hope,” and that the French people have “shown this evening their desire for a strong counter power to Emmanuel Macron.”

But Mr. Mariani struck a more pessimistic tone. “When you lose an election with such a difference,” he said, referring to the 17-point deficit with Mr. Macron, it means that “we have a real issue” with explaining the party’s ideas.

Ms. Roullaud was blunter. Of Ms. Le Pen, she said: “The French people, they’re still afraid of her.”

The Élysée Palace is the official residence of the president of France.Credit…Pool photo by Ludovic Marin

Inauguration ceremonies in France are much smaller affairs than in the United States and do not involve a swearing in. President Emmanuel Macron will likely attend a short event at the Élysée Palace, the president’s residence, and give a speech before being driven up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe to attend a ceremony honoring fallen service members.

Jean Castex, Mr. Macron’s current prime minister, has said he would resign to make way for new faces before parliamentary elections in June. But it is still unclear if or when exactly that might happen — and, if it does, how long it will take Mr. Macron to form a new government.

Now, the political focus is shifting to the parliamentary elections, which are sometimes called the “third round” of the presidential race and will play a crucial role in determining how much leeway Mr. Macron will have to pursue his agenda.

All seats will be up for grabs in the National Assembly, France’s lower and more powerful house of Parliament, in a two-round system of voting. Lawmakers also serve five-year terms.

If Mr. Macron struggles to muster a strong parliamentary majority, it could force him into a “cohabitation” — a situation in which the presidency and the National Assembly are on opposing political sides.

That would compel him to choose a prime minister of a different political party and potentially block much of his domestic agenda. (Foreign policy, which is a presidential prerogative, would remain mostly untouched.)

Ms. Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leftist who came in third in the first round of the presidential election, have both appealed to voters to make them that prime minister.

“Tonight we are starting the great legislative electoral battle,” Ms. Le Pen, who gained several percentage points from her showing in the 2017 presidential election, told cheering supporters during her concession speech. “Tonight’s historic score puts our camp in an excellent position to get a large number of seats in June.”

“I will never abandon the French,” she added.

Mr. Mélenchon, in a speech on Sunday, said that “democracy can still give us the means to change course.”

“The third round starts tonight,” he said.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, left, met with President Emmanuel Macron of France in Moscow in February, weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Credit…Sputnik, via Reuters

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia congratulated Emmanuel Macron on Monday for his re-election as France’s president after defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right candidate many in Russia favored as a potential game-changing option for the Kremlin amid the threat of new sanctions and in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

“I sincerely wish you success in your state activities, as well as good health and well-being,” Mr. Putin said in a congratulatory note to Mr. Macron, published by the Kremlin.

Mr. Macron has been one of the few Western politicians willing to engage with Mr. Putin, relentlessly trying to push the Russian leader toward diplomacy. Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, the two presidents have had nine telephone conversations, according to the Kremlin.

However, Mr. Macron has been bound by the French commitment to the trans-Atlantic unity, something that Ms. Le Pen, his rival, was willing to weaken. Ms. Le Pen, whose National Rally party borrowed millions from a Russian bank over the past decade, said rapprochement with Russia would be her foreign-policy priority once the fighting in Ukraine stopped.

A victory by Ms. Le Pen would have been seen as a great triumph for Mr. Putin, who has risked his country’s long-term economic well-being for the sake of territorial gain in Ukraine.

For some commentators in Russia, however, it wasn’t Ms. Le Pen’s far-right or pro-Moscow stance that prevented her from getting elected, but that she did not go far enough in endorsing the Kremlin.

Zakhar Prilepin, a conservative Russian writer and politician, said on social media that instead of “trying to get glued together with Macron into one undistinguishable ball,” Ms. Le Pen “had to say that she supports the special operation, would quit NATO, and send the Foreign Legion, Algerian special forces and her own security detail to Belgorod for drills.”