French Constitutional Council confirms presidential election results

French President Emmanuel Macron – Photo: REUTERS

On April 27, the president of the assembly Laurent Fabius declared Emmanuel Macron the president of France, having won 58.55% of the vote in the second round of voting on April 24.

Macron’s opponent, far-right leader Le Pen, won 41.4% of the vote.

Out of 48,752,339 registered voters, 35,096,478 voters turned out to vote. Thus, the percentage of voters who did not vote was 28.01%.

“In general the rules of the electoral process are followed,” the newspaper Le Figaro quoted Fabius as saying.

Also according to Mr. Fabius, the new French president will start work from May 14. The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to take place on May 13 at the Elysee Palace.

The election results on April 24 are not surprising because previous polls have shown Mr. Macron ahead of Ms. Le Pen.

Mr Macron is the first president to be re-elected since Jacques Chirac in 2002.

Addressing a crowd of supporters near the Eiffel Tower, President Macron said his victory brought “a more independent France and a stronger Europe”.

In the near future, the far-right of Ms. Le Pen will focus on the French National Assembly elections in June.

The results of an opinion poll conducted by Elabe on April 27 showed that 6 out of 10 French voters polled did not want Mr Macron’s Progressive Party (LREM) to win a majority of 289 seats in the 577-seat lower house of parliament.

The share rises to 69 percent among working-class voters and nearly 90 percent among far-right and far-left voters.

If Mr Macron’s party wins, he will appoint a new government and possibly pass bills. If that fails, Mr Macron will have to appoint a prime minister from another party.

In 2017, when elected for the first time, the LREM Party led by Mr. Macron won a majority of seats in the National Assembly.