(CNN) By turning to Emmanuel Macron as its new president, France has elevated a charismatic new leader in the great political battle between globalism and nationalism that is underway in Western democracies. 
 
 The 39-year-old's win over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen Sunday in the second round of the French election represents liberal internationalism's most significant response yet to the populist tsunami that yielded President Donald Trump and Brexit and ended a crop of establishment political careers. 
 
 Macron, a proponent of globalization, centrist politics and the European Union, in effect erected a bastion against the unconventional and disruptive forces that have roiled developed world politics over the last year. 
 
 "This is our civilization that's at stake, our way of life," Macron said shortly after his victory, in which he took around 66% of the vote against Le Pen. 
 
 But it would be premature to declare that the populist wave has reached a high-water mark, given the recent turbulence in international politics. And Macron, who ran as an outsider despite establishment credentials, does bear some resemblance -- in his light political resume if nothing else -- to the neophyte leaders who have come from nowhere to shake up politics. 
 
 The French campaign trod what has become familiar ground in big Western elections over the last year. It saw the older, establishment politicians crushed as they failed to identify and adapt to waves of change. None of the traditional parties reached the run-off as voters in France, like elsewhere, soured on the same old choices. 
 
 As with the Brexit referendum and the US election last year, the election was fought on the fault line between well-off, cosmopolitan, urban elites and insurgents who tapped the frustrations of rural, less-educated and poorer voters, ones who are fixated on immigration policies and feel disenfranchised in a global economy that has hemorrhaged blue collar jobs. 
 
 A fresh-faced candidate wins 
 
 But this time, the elite candidate -- albeit one whose youth and outlook suggested a break from older, more conventional political forces -- came out on top. In effect, Macron ran on insider ground while adopting the rhetoric and habits of an outsider. 
 
 The graduate of exclusive French schools who become a banker and finance minister formed his own party "En Marche" to escape the taint of the political establishment. His youth was a break from the past in itself. He will be the youngest French president ever and the youngest French leader, period, since Napoleon. 
 
 That sense of freshness could help break the somber mood that has settled over French politics for years -- though his inexperience will also test him. 
 
 Such attributes allowed him to separate himself from old-school politics and the establishment "swamp" in a way that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with her decades at the center of Washington intrigue, failed to do last year. 
 
 Macron's victory is likely to be studied by other centrist hopefuls in Europe and the United States as they struggle to combat the powerful economic message of candidates like Trump. 
 
 JUST WATCHED What to know about Emmanuel Macron Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH What to know about Emmanuel Macron 01:32 
 
 He will have to tackle the question of how to reach out to those who have given up on politics as usual and who find the promises of Trump and candidates like him so attractive. 
 
 In fact, Macron's enthusiastic support for the EU and globalization was an implicit rebuke to the instincts of Trump and those who successfully campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. 
 
 He portrayed himself as a reformer, but as a bulwark against the forces of disruption dedicated to tearing down institutions rather than repairing them. 
 
 But he also took aim at the hidebound realities of French politics by warning of public spending cuts and more free market reforms designed to kick-start France's highly regulated economy. 
 
 Macron's triumph will buck up establishment figures who have had little to cheer in recent months: He was endorsed by former President Barack Obama, who is seeing his own legacy dismantled by the populist Trump. Macron also carried the hopes of European elites like German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 
 
 Trump, however, had seemed to hint earlier in the race that he preferred Le Pen. The US President has struck similar themes to Le Pen on Islamic terrorism and immigration. And following a terrorist attack in Paris last month, he tweeted: "Will have a big effect on presidential election!" 
 
 Reinforcing the EU 
 
 Despite the idiosyncrasies of the French race, many European analysts believe that Macron's win sent an unequivocal signal at an existential moment for EU unity. 
 
 "This is a victory of values, the values of the Enlightenment, the values of France, the values on which America was founded, the values from which the US and the UK have gone significantly astray," said Nicholas Dungan, an Atlantic Council senior fellow, who teaches at Sciences Po, a top international research university in France that counts Macron as among its most distinguished alumni. 
 
 "This is the end of know-nothing populism," he said. 
 
 Macron's victory is already being seen as an invigorating boost for the European Union, which was knocked sideways by the British decision to exit and would have faced a meltdown had Le Pen, an avowed opponent of the European bloc, won. 
 
 "The French electorate clearly said after Brexit, against all the forecasts from the Dr. Dooms of this world, that they were against Frexit and against leaving the Eurozone," said Philippe Le Corre, a Brookings Institution visiting fellow, who is a former French Defense Ministry official. 
 
 Just as Trump raged against Washington, Le Pen played into frustration with distant EU bureaucrats among blue collar voters, a tactic that proved potent for "Leave" campaigners in the British referendum. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Macron addresses nation after election Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Macron addresses nation after election 02:05 
 
 But this time, the anti-establishment fury was not enough. 
 
 In dramatic scenes Sunday, Macron, whose supporters often waved EU flags alongside those of the French tricolor, marched to his victory rally at the Louvre in Paris to the strains of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" — which serves as the European anthem. 
 
 In many ways, the trauma of the UK's vote to leave Europe, which was warmly and repeatedly welcomed by Trump as a political achievement akin to his own shock election victory, appears to have concentrated the minds of French voters. 
 
 "The Brexit vote, you could even say, helped (Macron), because it helped France realize the importance of the European Union," said Dominic Thomas, head of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA, on CNN International. 
 
 There are some reasons to think that the populist wave has broken. 
 
 Le Pen's defeat follows a showing of far-right leader Geert Wilders in the Dutch election in March that fell short of expectations. In local council elections across the Channel last week, meanwhile, the UK Independence Party, which campaigned for Brexit, was all but wiped out. A surge by a right-wing populist party in Germany, the AfD, appears to have peaked ahead of Merkel's re-election bid in the fall. 
 
 Yet it would be premature to dismiss populist, anti-establishment sentiments as a force in modern Western politics. For one thing, some establishment parties have adopted populist positions -- one reason why UKIP voters, for instance, are moving back towards the Conservative Party in Britain ahead of a general election in June. 
 
 Le Pen splits France 
 
 And after all, Le Pen managed to garner around 34% of the vote in the second round of an election which opened up deep splits in French society. 
 
 Still, Macron's presidency may not count for much unless he is able to address the feelings of economic disenfranchisement and blight that have forced themselves to the fore in elections in the Western world over the last year. 
 
 Macron signaled in his victory speech that he understood the stakes, asking his supporters not to boo Le Pen or her partisans. 
 
 "They expressed today anger, dismay and sometimes strong beliefs. I respect them but I will do everything over the next five years to make sure there is no reason at all to vote for extremes," Macron said. 
 
 The new French President will also have to consider how to frame his relations with the United States and Trump, whom he will now encounter at the G7 and NATO summits in Europe this month. 
 
 Populist influences in the White House, including political guru Steve Bannon, have been openly critical of the European Union. 
 
 But Trump played it straight down the line on Sunday, writing on Twitter: "Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!" 
 
 Macron, for all his philosophical, generational and temperamental differences with Trump, is likely to move carefully, stressing areas of agreement with the administration -- on fighting terrorism for instance. 
 
 But he is likely to be critical of Trump in places where the US and France differ, like climate change. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will go head-to-head in just under two weeks' time 
 
 Centrist Emmanuel Macron has gone through to the second round of the French election, where he will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen. 
 
 Mr Macron, a former banker, is seen as a political newcomer - and ran without the backing of an established party. 
 
 After topping Sunday's vote, he is now favourite to win the run-off on 7 May. 
 
 It is the first time in six decades that neither of France's main left-wing or right-wing parties has had a candidate in the second round. 
 
 How tight is the race? 
 
 Mr Macron won 23.8% of votes in the first round, while Ms Le Pen took 21.5%. The turnout was high, at almost 79%. 
 
 The nearest challengers, centre-right François Fillon and hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, fell behind with just over 19% each. 
 
 But several political rivals are now expected to unite behind Mr Macron in the run-off vote, in a bid to keep Ms Le Pen's National Front (FN) from power. 
 
 What does Mr Macron stand for? 
 
 At 39, Mr Macron could become the youngest president France has ever had - and the first president in the Fifth Republic who does not belong to a major party. 
 
 He secured 8.4 million votes - more than any other candidate - in the first round. 
 
 Mr Macron was current President Francois Hollande's economy minister but quit to create his own party, En Marche, which pushes a liberal, pro-EU agenda. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Emmanuel Macron: "I hope to become your president" 
 
 His campaign promises include: 
 
 A €50bn (£43bn; $53bn) public investment plan to cover job-training, exit from coal and shift to renewable energy, infrastructure and modernisation 
 
 Big cut in corporation tax and more leeway for companies to renegotiate 35-hour working week 
 
 Cut in jobless rate to 7% (now 9.7%) 
 
 Ban on mobile phone use in schools for under-15s and a €500 culture pass for 18 year olds 
 
 In a victory speech to supporters, Mr Macron borrowed language favoured by his rival to describe himself as the patriotic choice for France. 
 
 "I hope that in a fortnight I will become your president. I want to become the president of all the people of France - the president of the patriots in the face of the threat from the nationalists," he said. 
 
 What about Ms Le Pen? 
 
 Ms Le Pen took over the FN leadership from her father in January 2011 and helped her party secure big gains in regional elections. 
 
 She won 7.6 million votes on Sunday - the strongest ever result for a FN candidate, and 2.8 million more than her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, won for the FN in 2002. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Marine Le Pen: "I am calling on sincere patriots... to join me" 
 
 Her party wants to slash immigration, clamp down on free trade, and overturn France's relationship with Europe. 
 
 Her campaign has called for: 
 
 Negotiation with Brussels on a new EU, followed by a referendum 
 
 "Automatic" expulsion of illegal immigrants and legal immigration cut to 10,000 per year following an immediate total moratorium 
 
 "Extremist" mosques closed and priority to French nationals in social housing 
 
 Retirement age fixed at 60 and 35-hour week assured 
 
 Following the first round results, Ms Le Pen made an "appeal to all patriots", saying a vote for her was the key to the "survival of France". 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Le Pen supporters celebrating her win 
 
 "Wherever they come from, whatever their origin, whatever they voted for in the first round, I invite them all to join us and to abandon ancient quarrels and to concentrate on what is essential for our country," she said. 
 
 Who is likely to win? 
 
 Correspondents say the next head of state is almost certain to be Mr Macron, as most other parties are now backing him. 
 
 But Mr Macron may struggle to get enough of his candidates elected to parliament - where more established parties, such as the Republicans and the Socialists, currently have the most seats. 
 
 Without a majority, Mr Macron would have to negotiate to have his policies approved through the assembly - which could be challenging. 
 
 What do the other candidates say? 
 
 Benoît Hamon, the candidate of President Hollande's Socialist Party who failed to make an impact in the first round, urged those who voted for him to support Mr Macron in the next stage. Mr Fillon has done the same. 
 
 However, Mr Mélenchon has not endorsed either candidate yet. 
 
 Some voters are unhappy with both candidates - hundreds took part in "anti-fascist, anti-capitalist" protests on Sunday night, opposing both Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron. 
 
 Some demonstrators set cars on fire and broke shop windows - police said 143 people were arrested. 
 
 What do the results mean for the EU? 
 
 Analysts and world leaders have been watching the election closely - after the Brexit vote in the UK and election of US President Donald Trump challenged liberal values and the political establishment. 
 
 Many European leaders are now congratulating Mr Macron on the first round results - as they are keen to strengthen the union after Brexit. 
 
 Mr Macron addressed the nation in front of an EU flag as the results came in - something noticed by both pro and anti-EU politicians. 
 
 What does French result mean for Brexit? 
 
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, tweeted: "It's good that Emmanuel Macron was successful with his course for a strong EU and social market economy. All the best for the next two weeks." 
 
 European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also congratulated him, as did EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. 
 
 "The result is the hope and future of our generation," she tweeted. 
 
 Anti-EU politicians, on the other hand, have congratulated Ms Le Pen for making the second round. 
 
 Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who leads the anti-immigration Freedom Party, said the results were a "bright day for patriots in France and elsewhere who want more national sovereignty and less EU and immigration". 
 
 Are you a French citizen? What is your reaction to the result of the first round? You can share your comments by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. 
 
 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: ||||| The independent centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen have won the first round of the French presidential election, with projected results indicating they secured roughly 23.7 percent and 21.7 percent of votes respectively. Defeating centre-right François Fillion and hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, they fought their battle amidst a febrile, hyperbolic milieu–one that is becoming increasingly familiar. Economically and socially divided, stuttering in the face of rapid globalization, and reeling in the wake of increased terror threats, France has now voted for two, diametrically opposed visions of its nation. Macron’s Le Marche! movement is pro-European, pro-business, and socially liberal. Le Pen’s, with its insular focus on sovereignty and nationalism, is sensationalist, inflammatory and anti-immigration. 
 
 Despite the stark ideological chasm separating the two candidates, as they head towards the second round of the elections on May 7, they are united in that they both represent an unprecedented uprooting of the establishment politics of right and left–known as the clivage gauche-droite, which has governed France for decades. In the nearly 60-year history of the Fifth Republic, this is the first time that the second-round contest will feature two outsider candidates. This historic upheaval, interpreted as a grave humiliation for the entrenched and the elite, will have a seismic impact, not just in France, but across the world too. Internationally, focus will be trained acutely on Macron and Le Pen, who now represent the latest frontier in the transatlantic clash between progressive and populistic politics. 
 
 The outcome could signal another victory for the far-right, but Macron is largely expected to win. The tiered French political system was designed by Charles de Gaulle to prevent extremist parties from coming into power, and already, Fillon has urged his followers to vote Macron in order to block Le Pen. “The Front National is well known for its violence, its intolerance, and its programme would lead our country to bankruptcy and Europe into chaos,” he said. “There is no other choice than to vote against the fair right.” French prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve followed suit, and joined his Socialist party’s defeated candidate, Benoît Hamon, in urging the party’s voters to support Macron too. “I solemnly call for a vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round in order to beat the Front National and obstruct the disastrous project of Marine Le Pen that would take France backwards and divide the French people.” 
 
 If, however, Le Pen defies the polls (as Brexit and Trump both did), the implications for Britain—hovering on the brink of a snap general election and about to enter into at least two years of complex Brexit negotiations—would be shattering. Already, the E.U. seems set on hard-bargaining the terms of Brexit with prime minister Theresa May. If Le Pen, who also wants to remove France from both the European Union and the euro, gains power, hard-bargaining could swiftly be replaced with no bargain at all. The U.K. is not part of the single currency, and historically has not supported the notion of ever-closer-union. France, on the other hand, remains integral to the EU project. Frexit would send Brexit soaring right down to the bottom of the priority list, leaving May stranded, attempting to negotiate with an aghast, crumbling and distracted E.U.. 
 
 Even if Le Pen loses, as suggested, her last-gasp campaign will be as crudely frenetic as possible. Celebrating today’s victory in France’s northern rustbelt, she declared herself the “candidate of the people”. Energetically stoking fear and division, she will spend the next two weeks vocally berating the E.U., and painting Macron, an ex-banker, as an out-of-touch Clinton-like elite. This is excellent timing for Nigel Farage and his self-named band of Brexit Bad Boys who, post-Brexit, are floundering. Today, UKIPs leader Paul Nuttall suggested his party would campaign for a burqa ban but, behind the typically shocking rhetoric, the reality is, his party has no M.P.s, and no pivotal focus. As Farage once lent fuel to Le Pen’s fire via his Brexit campaign, she will now return the favor. For once, Britain’s far-right will embrace cultural exchange, and the British electorate should brace themselves for Le Pen’s rhetoric to quickly cross the English channel and become integrated, somehow, into their election debate. 
 
 But, as Farage and Le Pen fight for their relevance, Macron emerges as an emollient figure. Representing the strange sight of an anti-establishment centrist politician, he is, uniquely, a product of the current zeitgeist. Just 39 years old, and untested in an elected role, the challenges he faces are gargantuan. If he wins, he will inherit a divided country. But for now, untarnished by actually having to govern, Macron’s extraordinary ascendancy shows that the centre can regain ground. 
 
 VIDEO: How Democrats Can Beat Donald Trump in 2020 ||||| Far-right leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen, addresses supporters after exit poll results of the first round of the presidential election were announced at... (Associated Press) 
 
 Far-right leader and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen, addresses supporters after exit poll results of the first round of the presidential election were announced at her election day headquarters in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, April 23, 2017. Polling agency... (Associated Press) 
 
 PARIS (AP) — French voters shut out the country's political mainstream from the presidency for the first time in the country's modern history, and on Monday found themselves being courted across the spectrum for the runoff election. 
 
 The May 7 runoff will be between the populist Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, and French politicians on the moderate left and right immediately urged voters to block Le Pen's path to power. 
 
 The defeated far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, pointedly refused to do the same, and Le Pen's National Front is hoping to do the once unthinkable and peel away voters historically opposed to a party long tainted by racism and anti-Semitism. 
 
 "The voters who voted for Mr. Melenchon are angry voters. They can be in agreement with us," said Steeve Brios, a vice president of Le Pen's National Front party. He said they express a choice "outside the system." 
 
 Choosing inside the system is no longer an option for French voters, who rejected the two mainstream parties that have alternated power for decades in favor of Le Pen and the untested Macron, who has never held elected office and who founded his own political movement just last year. Turnout was 78 percent. 
 
 Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon, whose party holds a majority in the legislature and whose President Francois Hollande is the most unpopular in modern French record-keeping, got just 6 percent. The conservative candidate fared marginally better, coming in third with just shy of 20 percent of the vote. 
 
 "We are in a phase of decomposition, demolition, deconstruction," said former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls. "We didn't do the work — intellectual, ideological and political — on what the left is, and we paid the price." 
 
 Both center-right and center-left fell in behind Macron, whose optimistic vision of a tolerant France and a united Europe with open borders is a stark contrast to Le Pen's darker, inward-looking "French-first" platform that calls for closed borders, tougher security, less immigration and dropping the shared euro currency to return to the French franc. 
 
 European stock markets surged on the open as investors welcomed the first-round results, with Macron favored to win. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wished Macron "all the best for the next two weeks." 
 
 Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, tweeted that "the result for Emmanuel Macron shows: France AND Europe can win together! The center is stronger than the populists think!" 
 
 Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie, made it to the second round against Jacques Chirac in 2002 and was crushed. Many commentators expect the same fate for his daughter, but she has already drawn far more support than he ever did and she's transformed the party's once-pariah image. 
 
 Le Pen offers an alternative for anyone skeptical of the European Union and France's role in it, said Louis Aliot, the vice president of the National Front party. 
 
 "I'm not convinced that the French are willing to sign a blank check to Mr. Macron," he said. 
 
 But Macron's party spokesman, Benjamin Griveaux, said the far-right candidate is hardly a vector of change. 
 
 "She's been in the political system for 30 years. She inherited her father's party and we will undoubtedly have Le Pens running for the next 20 years, because after we had the father, we have the daughter and we will doubtless have the niece," he said. "So she is in a truly bad position to be talking about the elites and the people." 
 
 Macron came in first in Sunday's vote, with just over 23 percent; Le Pen had 21 percent; Melenchon and losing conservative candidate Francois Fillon each had 19 percent. Fillon, a former prime minister, bested the former Trotskyist by just 94,998 votes. 
 
 Protesters overnight burned cars, danced around bonfires and dodged riot police at the Place de la Bastille and Republique. Twenty-nine people were detained at the Bastille, where protesters waved red flags and sang "No Marine and No Macron!" in anger at the results. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Ganley reported from Henin-Beaumont. Lori Hinnant and Thomas Adamson contributed from Paris. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This corrects that Socialist candidate was Benoit Hamon ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption How did a 39-year-old with a new party who has never before been elected win the French presidency? 
 
 Emmanuel Macron has triggered a political earthquake in French politics. 
 
 A year ago, he was a member of the government of one of the most unpopular French presidents in history. 
 
 Now, at 39, he has won France's presidential election, defeating first the mainstream centre left and centre right and now the far right as well. 
 
 He got lucky 
 
 No doubt about it, Mr Macron was carried to victory in part by the winds of fortune. 
 
 A public scandal knocked out the initial frontrunner, centre-right candidate François Fillon; and Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon, already on the left fringe of the party, suffered a very public drubbing as traditional voters looked elsewhere. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption A "fake jobs" scandal put paid to the hopes of the early election frontrunner, François Fillon 
 
 "He was very lucky, because he was facing a situation that was completely unexpected," says Marc-Olivier Padis, of Paris-based think tank Terra Nova. 
 
 He was canny 
 
 Luck doesn't tell the whole story. 
 
 Mr Macron could have gone for the Socialist ticket, but he realised after years in power and dismal public approval ratings the party's voice would always struggle to be heard. 
 
 "He was able to foresee there was an opportunity when nobody could," says Mr Padis. 
 
 Instead, he looked at political movements that have sprung up elsewhere in Europe - Podemos in Spain, Italy's Five-Star Movement - and saw that there was no equivalent game-changing political force in France. 
 
 In April 2016, he established his "people-powered" En Marche! (On the move) movement and four months later he stood down from President François Hollande's government. 
 
 He tried something new in France 
 
 Having established En Marche, he took his cue from Barack Obama's grassroots 2008 US election campaign, says Paris-based freelance journalist Emily Schultheis. 
 
 His first major undertaking was the Grande Marche (Big March), when he mobilised his growing ranks of energised but inexperienced En Marche activists. 
 
 "The campaign used algorithms from a political firm they worked with - who by the way had volunteered for the Obama campaign in 2008 - to identify districts and neighbourhoods that were most representative of France as a whole," Ms Schultheis says. 
 
 "They sent out people to knock on 300,000 doors." 
 
 The volunteers didn't just hand out flyers - they carried out 25,000 in-depth interviews of about 15 minutes with voters across the country. That information was entered into a large database which helped inform campaign priorities and policies. 
 
 "It was a massive focus group for Macron in gauging the temperature of the country but also made sure that people had contact with his movement early on, making sure that volunteers knew how to go door to door. It was a training exercise that really laid the groundwork for what he did this year," Ms Schultheis explains. 
 
 And he capitalised on it. 
 
 He had a positive message 
 
 Mr Macron's political persona appears beset with contradictions. 
 
 The "newcomer" who was President Hollande's protege and then economy minister; the ex-investment banker running a grassroots movement; the centrist with a radical programme to slash the public sector. 
 
 It was perfect ammunition for run-off rival Marine Le Pen, who said he was the candidate of the elite, not the novice he said he was. 
 
 Image copyright Getty/AFP Image caption Protester versus pop music - observers said Le Pen rallies couldn't match the positivity on show at Macron gatherings 
 
 But he dodged attempts to label him as another François Hollande, creating a profile that resonated among people desperate for something new. 
 
 "There is a very prevalent pessimistic mood in France - in a way, too pessimistic - and he comes with a very optimistic, positive message," says Marc-Olivier Padis. 
 
 "He's young, full of energy, and he's not explaining what he'll do for France but how people will get opportunities. He's the only one to have this kind of message." 
 
 He was up against Marine Le Pen 
 
 Up against his more optimistic tone, Marine Le Pen's message came across as negative - anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-system. 
 
 Macron campaign rallies featured brightly lit arenas blaring with pop music, says Emily Schultheis, while Marine Le Pen's mass meetings involved protesters throwing bottles and flares, a heavy police presence, dark audience stands and an "angrier" undercurrent. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Emmanuel Macron's rallies came across as youthful and fresh, while his rival's message appeared more negative 
 
 The big TV debate on 3 May was an angry affair, with a string of insults hurled by both sides. 
 
 She was a "grand priestess of fear", a snake-oil merchant from the same extremist background as her father. He was a Socialist puppet, a dangerous tool of global finance who would do whatever Germany's Angela Merkel asked. 
 
 But many were alarmed by the prospect of a potentially destabilising and divisive far-right presidency and saw him as the last obstacle in her way. 
 
 Marine Le Pen may have run a highly effective campaign, but her poll ratings have been on the slide for months. She was ahead in the polls last year, nudging 30%, and yet in just two weeks she has been beaten twice by Emmanuel Macron. 
 
 Insults that marked fierce debate 
 
 The issues dividing Le Pen and Macron 
 
 In depth: Meteoric rise of Emmanuel Macron 
 
 In depth: Is Marine Le Pen far right? ||||| PARIS (Reuters) - Emmanuel Macron was confronted on Monday with pressing reminders of the challenges facing him as France’s next president, even as allies and some former rivals signaled their willingness to work closely with him. 
 
 The 39-year-old centrist’s victory over far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s election came as a huge relief to European Union allies who had feared another populist upheaval to follow Britain’s vote last year to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president. 
 
 “He carries the hopes of millions of French people, and of many people in Germany and the whole of Europe,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference in Berlin. 
 
 “He ran a courageous pro-European campaign, stands for openness to the world and is committed decisively to a social market economy,” the EU’s most powerful leader added, congratulating Macron on his “spectacular” election success. 
 
 But even while pledging to help France tackle unemployment, Merkel rejected suggestions Germany should do more to support Europe’s economy by importing more from its partners to bring down its big trade surplus. 
 
 European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker put it bluntly: “With France, we have a particular problem ... The French spend too much money and they spend too much in the wrong places. This will not work over time.” 
 
 The euro fell from six-month highs against the dollar on confirmation of Macron’s widely expected victory by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent. Investors took profit on a roughly 3 percent gain for the currency since he won the first round two on April 23. 
 
 France’s economic malaise, especially high unemployment, had undermined the popularity of outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande to the point where he decided not even to run again as a candidate. 
 
 “This year, I wanted Emmanuel Macron to be here with me so that a torch could be passed on,” said Hollande, appearing with Macron at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to commemorate Victory in Europe Day and the surrender of Nazi forces on May 8, 1945 at the end of World War Two. 
 
 Elsewhere in Paris, more than 1,500 people, led by the powerful CGT labor federation, marched in protest against Macron’s planned liberalization of labor laws. 
 
 “If he continues with the idea of executive orders in July, that means he will sweep away consultation and dialogue, so there will be a problem one way or another. We shall see,” Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of the hardline leftist Force Ouvriere union told France Info radio. 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY 
 
 On assuming office next Sunday as France’s youngest leader since Napoleon, Macron faces the immediate challenge of securing a majority in the June parliamentary election to have a realistic chance of implementing his plans for lower state spending, higher investment and reform of the tax, labor and pension systems. 
 
 With the two mainstream parties - the conservative Republicans and the left-wing Socialists - both failing to reach the presidential runoff vote, his chances of winning a majority that supports his election pledges will depend on him widening his centrist base. 
 
 The Socialists are torn between the radical left of their defeated candidate Benoit Hamon and the more centrist, pro-business branch led by Manuel Valls, who was prime minister under Hollande. 
 
 Outgoing French President Francois Hollande (R) and President-elect Emmanuel Macron attend a ceremony to mark the end of World War II at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, May 8, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier 
 
 On Monday, key members of the centrist arm of The Republicans appeared ready to work with Macron despite the party hierarchy calling for unity to oppose the new president and calling those that were wavering “traitors”. 
 
 “I can work in a government majority,” said Bruno Le Maire, a senior Republicans official, who had been an aide of presidential candidate Francois Fillon, and is tipped by some to become the new foreign minister. 
 
 “The situation is too serious for sectarianism and to be partisan,” he said, later adding that Macron’s victory was positive for France. 
 
 However, a senior Republican, Christian Estrosi, who had backed Macron and been rumored to rally behind him, said on Monday he had turned down a ministerial post in order to focus on his home city of Nice. 
 
 “I will say things clearly: my only ambition is to serve my city and my region and not to enter the government,” Estrosi later told reporters. 
 
 Macron’s party chief, Richard Ferrand, told a news conference his “En Marche!” movement will now change its name to “En Marche la République” or “Republic on the Move”, so as to structure itself more like a traditional party. 
 
 He also said the names of Macron’s 577 candidates in the legislative elections would be announced this Thursday. 
 
 Macron stepped down from the chairmanship of the movement on Thursday and 68-year-old former Socialist government adviser Catherine Barbaroux was named as interim president. 
 
 Slideshow (22 Images) 
 
 Le Pen, 48, defiantly claimed the mantle of France’s main opposition in calling on “all patriots” to constitute a “new political force”. 
 
 Her tally was almost double the score that her father Jean-Marie, the last far-right candidate to make the presidential runoff, achieved in 2002, when he was trounced by the conservative Jacques Chirac.
– The pollsters were wrong once again with France's presidential runoff election but there was no surprise result this time: Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen 66% to 34%, a much bigger margin than the 20 points that had been predicted, Reuters reports. But 34% was still a record for Le Pen's National Front, and analysts say it shows the pro-business, pro-EU Macron has a big struggle ahead to unite a divided nation—as does the fact that in a race between two political outsiders, more than a third of voters either didn't show up or cast a blank ballot. A roundup of coverage: The BBC looks at five reasons for what it calls the "political earthquake" of Macron's victory. They include the scandal that knocked out the initial front-runner, and a strong grassroots operation inspired by Barack Obama's 2008 victory. The result may be a sign that the "populist wave" that led to the Brexit vote and the election of President Trump may be fading, the New York Times reports. "I understand the divisions of our country that have led some to vote for extremists," Macron said after the vote. "I understand the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that a great part among us have also expressed." Governing is going to be the hard part for Macron, who will have to deal with the country's established political parties while implementing his "neither left nor right" policies, EJ Dionne writes in a Washington Post op-ed. "Macron is both a former investment banker and a moderate social democrat," he writes. "Demonstrating how these two sides of him fit together will define the drama of his presidency." The Guardian predicts that there will be no honeymoon period for the 39-year-old president-elect and his "En Marche" movement. As well as the sharp divide between left and right, he has to deal with problems including mass youth unemployment, rising inequality, and the threat of terrorism, which still has the country under a state of emergency. Condoleezza Rice tells USA Today that despite the defeat, Marine Le Pen and similar anti-free trade, anti-immigration populists are still having a worrying effect on politics. "I really do believe that these populists are changing the character of the politics just by being there, so even mainstream candidates are having to respond to their agenda," she says. Vladimir Putin and President Trump were among the world leaders congratulating Macron on Sunday. "I look very much forward to working with him!" Trump tweeted. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the win as a victory for a "strong and united Europe," France24 reports. CNN notes that centrist candidates in Europe and elsewhere are now looking to Macron for an example of how to defeat candidates like Le Pen amid widespread voter dissatisfaction. Macron's youth—he is France's youngest president ever and its youngest leader since Napoleon Bonaparte became emperor at 34—helped distance him from the political establishment.