Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron claimed the most votes, topping euroskeptic candidates who could bring about a so-called Frexit.
The centrist politician won the first round with 23.8% of the vote. Macron will face National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, who finished second with 21.5% of the vote, in a two-person runoff election on May 7.
Polls have suggested Macron should top right-winger Le Pen in a two-candidate race by a comfortable margin. Conservative Les Républicains candidate François Fillon — who failed to make the runoff as he finished third in Sunday’s election with 19.9% of the vote — said he will vote for Macron because he has “no other choice than vote against the extreme right.”
Below are five things to know about Macron, as French stocks PX1, +0.02% surge.
1. Worked for four years with an investment bank. Macron was an investment banker at Rothschild from 2008 to 2012.
That gig hands his critics a talking point. Le Pen has portrayed him as the “candidate of finance,” though Macron has countered that he “learnt a job; every political leader should have one,” as a Financial Times report noted.
Before his banking stint, he worked in France’s economy ministry. After his Rothschild gig, he returned to government work, including serving in current French President François Hollande’s cabinet, before leaving to start “En Marche,” an independent political party.
2. Would be France’s youngest president. Born in December 1977, Macron is 39 years old and would be the French Republic’s youngest-ever president.
To be sure, France was led by even younger individuals in prior eras. Louis XIII, for example, became king while still a child, and Napoleon crowned himself emperor at age 35.
3. Operates outside the political machine, and that’s a challenge. While Macron appeals to voters in part because he is a fresh face, it’s also not easy being the new kid.
For now, Macron and Le Pen have triumphed over France’s mainstream political forces. For more than four decades, France’s conservative and socialist parties have traded the country’s presidency back and forth, a Wall Street Journal story noted.
But Macron “won’t be able to deliver anything like what he promised in his manifesto, given he doesn’t have any party machinery or political support in the French parliament, and probably won’t get it either,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, in a note.
“For all his market- and EU-friendly rhetoric, Emmanuel Macron will face the same problems previous French presidents have faced, which means he will have to reach out across the political divide,” Hewson added. “This lack of support is likely to make him a lame duck president, only able to affect minor tweaks or changes.”
4. Hasn’t previously held elected office. While Le Pen is seen as the candidate more like Donald Trump, Macron also has some things in common with the U.S. president, including not having a long career in government before going for the top job.
Macron had never run for elected office before the presidential campaign.
The notion that a non-politician running independently — with no party and no electoral experience — could be a serious contender for the presidency would have been unthinkable a few years ago, a Guardian report said earlier during the campaign.
5. Macron’s wife was his teacher when he was 15: Brigitte Macron — the candidate’s wife — is 24 years older than him, and she has been his guide and coach since he was 15, a Bloomberg report has pointed out.
The age gap is the same as between Trump and his wife, Melania, except in the other direction, the report added.
