France’s centrist candidate, Emmanuel Macron, has won the country’s  presidential election by a resoundingly margin over far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen.

Initial estimates showed Macron winning between 65.5 percent and 66.1 percent of ballots ahead of Le Pen, who is expected to win between 33.9 percent and 34.5 percent.

In an interview with AFP, Macron said his election victory represented “hope” and a “new chapter” for France. “A new chapter in our long history begins tonight. I want it to be one of hope and renewed confidence,” he added.

Defeated candidate, Marine Le Pen, claimed a “historic, massive result” for her far-right National Front (FN) in Sunday’s presidential run-off, AFP reported.

Le Pen made a short statement, saying she had called Macron to wish him “success” in tackling the “huge challenges” he faced. Le Pen also announced that she would lead the FN into June’s legislative elections.

People in France started to cast their ballots in the presidential run-off earlier on Sunday after polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). Some 47 million people were eligible to vote at 66,546 polling stations across the European countries.

Figures from the Interior Ministry said 65.30 percent of voters had turned out by 5 p.m. (1500 GMT), which was lower than in any of the past four presidential elections at the same stage of the day, Reuters reported.

Pollsters’ estimates based on these figures put the final turnout at 73-75 percent, down from around 80 percent or more in those past four elections. Macron and Le Pen won the first round of voting in France’s presidential election on April 23. Macron finished first with 24 percent, ahead of Le Pen with 21.3 percent.

The populist far-right candidate has portrayed herself as anti-EU, anti-NATO, and anti-immigration. Macron is seen as a centrist who aims to continue the policies of outgoing President Francois Hollande by deregulating the economy and deepening integration with the European Union.

Source: Presstv

The campaign of leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron says he has been the target of a “massive and coordinated hacking attack” following the release of what it said to be the campaign’s internal documents online just ahead of the election.

Late Friday, Macron’s campaign staff said the “cyber attack” led to the release of thousands of emails and other documents, slamming it as an attempt at “democratic destabilization, like that seen during the last presidential campaign in the United States.”

According to local press reports, nearly nine gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, a site that allows anonymous document sharing. However, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or whether any of the information was genuine.

In a statement, Macron’s political movement En Marche! (Onwards!) confirmed that it had been hacked. It issued a statement saying, “The En Marche! Movement has been the victim of a massive and coordinated hack this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information.”

The campaign files spread on social media shortly before midnight on Friday. when the 39-year-old, centrist Macron and his ultra-right rival Marine Le Pen officially concluded political campaigning for Sunday’s presidential poll. Macron’s aides slammed the leak as “unprecedented in a French electoral campaign.”

“Clearly, the documents arising from the hacking are all lawful and show the normal functioning of a presidential campaign,” Macron’s aides declared in a statement.

This is while the pro-European Union and pro-business former banker is leading his anti-establishment rival with a comfortable margin of nearly 62 percent to 38 percent, according to latest polls. Le Pen has said she wants to copy Britain’s example and hold a referendum on France’s EU membership, prompting serious concerns in capitals across the bloc.

A former economy minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande, Macron is a pro-trade reformer, who left the government last August to concentrate on his new political movement En Marche, which has drawn 250,000 members in 12 months. Meanwhile, a French Interior Ministry official refused to comment on the hacking, citing French rules that forbid any commentary likely to influence an election.

Moreover, the presidential election commission said in a statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron’s campaign informed the body about the reported hacking attack. The commission further called on the media to be cautious about publishing details of the emails considering that campaigning had ended, and publication could lead to criminal charges.

France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadow by allegations of manipulation through cyber hacking. In January, US intelligence agencies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the hacking of parties linked to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a bid to influence the polls on behalf of her Republican rival Donald Trump.

Source: Presstv

European Council President Donald Tusk has warned of “impossible” Brexit negotiation after UK Prime Minister Theresa May accused Brussels of meddling in Britain’s election. “These negotiations are difficult enough as they are. If we start arguing before they even begin they will become impossible,” Tusk told a Thursday news conference alongside Norway’s prime minister.

“The stakes are too high to let our emotions get out of hand, because at stake are the daily lives and interests of millions of people on both sides of the Channel,” the former Polish premier said. “We must keep in mind that in order to succeed we need today discretion, moderation, mutual respect and a maximum of goodwill,” he added. The remarks came hours after European Parliament President Antonio Tajani insisted that “no one is trying to influence the outcome of the election campaign in the United Kingdom.”

On Wednesday, May accused the EU of using Brexit as an excuse to influence the outcome of Britain’s upcoming general election. Speaking after a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, May told reporters at 10 Downing Street that the “bureaucrats of Brussels” were hoping to sway voters by making “threats” against the country. She also attacked the European media, saying they had “misrepresented” her government’s stance on negotiations concerning the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.