French Elections 2017
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Emmanuel Macron winds up a formal, slightly wooden victory speech to the nation via live tv with the traditional "Vive la France." Looking stern in a dark suit and tie, Macron acknowledges the social and economic concerns which appear to have contributed to a near-record abstention rate and promises to keep France at the forefront of the international fight against terrorism.A more upbeat victory celebration now awaits the 39-year-old new president outside the Louvre followed by weeks of campaigning for French parliamentary elections in June, which will determine his ability to govern and push through economic reforms. -
Macron the mould-breaker - France's youngest leader since Napoleon
ReutersIt has taken only three years for Emmanuel Macron to rise from being an unknown government adviser to be elected France's youngest head of state since Napoleon. -
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Warmest congratulations to @EmmanuelMacron on his victory this evening. France and U.K. remain close allies.8:18 PM - 07 May 2017
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Macron gives a stern, very presidential, acceptance speech, totally different from the first round's. Quick learner8:20 PM - 07 May 2017
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Je défendrai la France, ses intérêts vitaux, son image, son message : j’en prends l’engagement devant vous.8:22 PM - 07 May 2017
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Nous avons des devoirs envers notre pays. Nous sommes les héritiers d’une grande histoire et du grand message humaniste adressé au monde.8:21 PM - 07 May 2017- Reply
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Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!8:22 PM - 07 May 2017
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8:10 PM - 07 May 2017
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"Macron's victory writes a new page of hope for France and for Europe," writes Italy's ex-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Twitter. -
Media partly blamed for Marine Le Pen's defeat at Chalet du Lac, where many supporters left quickly after the far-right candidate gave her concession speech.
Michele,46, a nurse, tells Matthias Blamont: "I'm disgusted. I don't see how and when Marine can win one day. Everyone is against us. Above all the banks and media who did everything so that victory shouldn't come for us."
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The relief rally in markets is beginning to take shape in forex trading in Asia:The euro has just topped $1.10 for the first time since the U.S. elections, in early Asian trading, and climbed to a one-year high against the safe-haven yen which investors flock to when they perceive high levels of risk.
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Luck as much as talent has propelled Emmanuel Macron to the French presidency. The centrist will need both in spades if he wants to be acclaimed for more than defeating National Front leader Marine Le Pen. At best the 39-year-old will push through limited reforms. At worst, he risks undermining the presidential system that underpins the country’s Fifth Republic.
Read more from Reuters Breaking Views columnist Swaha Pattanaik in her latest piece 'Macron may change change France in unintended ways'. -
France: Majority for #Macron (EM-*) in all age groups and genders (Ipsos exit poll). #Presidentielle2017 #LePen https://t.co/12dTSWicxF
8:22 PM - 07 May 2017- Reply
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I warmly congratulate @EmmanuelMacron on his success and look forward to working with him on a wide range of shared priorities.8:27 PM - 07 May 2017
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Post-mortem from Le Pen father:Jean-Marie Le Pen reckons his daughter's defeat comes down to her stance on the euro and the European Union."It is the problems of the euro, of Europe, of pensions which have dragged down the campaign of Madame Le Pen, I think," Le Pen, who was expelled from the party in 2015, told RTL radio.
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"Congratulations Marine you can be very proud of a campaign centered on the real issues! 11 million voters thank you! Forward for France!" tweets National Front deputy leader Florian Philippot.He has said the National Front must be relaunched and the new party would change its name. -
Macron victory hailed as vote for European unity
European leaders hailed the victory of centrist Emmanuel Macron in the French election on Sunday as a vote for European unity and a blow to political forces that had sought to build on last year's Brexit vote to tear apart the European Union. -
Macron the mould-breaker - France's youngest leader since Napoleon
It has taken only three years for Emmanuel Macron to rise from being an unknown government adviser to be elected France's youngest head of state since Napoleon. -
Le Monde's Les Decodeurs tweeted the below graphic showing the two candidates' vote share, and the high levels of blank and spoiled votes as well as abstainees.Blank and spoiled votes are projected to be at a record level, with abstention levels the second highest in the Fifth Republic, based on current Ipsos projections.
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Vote share among 18-24 year olds: Macron 66%, Le Pen 34% https://t.co/E3cRH6OdN5 https://t.co/eIADvESlWX
8:35 PM - 07 May 2017- Reply
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The euro topped $1.10 for the first time since the U.S. elections on Sunday and climbed to a one-year high against the safe-haven yen on relief that Emmanuel Macron had beaten the far-right Marine Le Pen to clinch the French presidency.Early projections showed the market-friendly, pro-EU candidate Macron had been voted in with about 65 percent of the vote, comfortably defeating Le Pen, a nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union.While a victory for Macron had been widely forecast by polls, bookmakers and prediction markets alike, investors nevertheless were relieved that he had won so emphatically.In early trading in Asia, Europe's common currency rose about 0.2 percent to hit $1.1023 EUR=EBS, its highest since Nov. 9.The euro also climbed as much as half a percent against the yen -- which investors tend to flock to when they perceive high levels of risk -- to hit a one-year high of 124.58 yen EURJPY=EBS.The dollar climbed against the Japanese currency as well, hitting a seven-week high of 113.14 yen JPY=EBS.Reporting - Jemima Kelly
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Michael Strobaek, global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse, says:"Despite the uncertainty related to government formation and a potential implementation of reforms, the election result is a positive for Europe and markets from our point of view."Strobaek expects a short-term bounce in the Euro against the U.S. dollar and Swiss franc, since it already rallied strongly after the first round.Equity markets are likely to continue to attract investors, he reckons, with financials stocks expected to do particularly well.The spread between French and European government bonds, which had widened during the more uncertain times of the election race before compressing more recently, should diminish further.
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Trade unions have issued warnings over Macron's victory, with one calling for a demonstration on May 8."Force ouvriere" said Macron's labour reforms in particular would be a 'revealing first test' for the new President.The composition of a legislative majority will be crucial for reforms, including on labour, to be passed."Whether Les Républicains or En Marche come first, Macron will get his first batch of labor reforms through, despite the high likelihood of strikes as the main unions signal they are still an opposition force in their own right," says political risk analysis firm Eurasia."Markets and investors will see this as a good sign, as the rigidity of work contracts has become a significant problem for France’s international reputation."Eurasia says the detail of the labour reforms had been withheld purposely by Macron's camp in order to guarantee a large second-round vote.But as these details begin emerging, his honeymoon could be short-lived.
Trade unions demonstrate on May Day in Paris. -
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Investors continue to express relief on the victory for Macron.They're almost unanimous in praising Macron's plans to cut corporate tax rates, and many are also speculating the result could lead the European Central Bank to normalise monetary policy by beginning to raise interest rates earlier than previously expected."French voters have swung the pendulum back from Hollande’s paralysing tax increases to more conventional tax cuts and labour reform. Liberalisation of key industries now becomes a key discussion point heading into the June parliamentary elections," says Stephen Mitchell, fund manager at Jupiter Asset Management in London"Equities will react positively - but mildly so - now awaiting to see if Macron in June has a new prime minister and parliament who share this young leader's vision for revitalising France. Shorts had largely been covered after the first-round result."
"In the goldilocks scenario, Macron gets a working parliament and builds a partnership with Germany to launch meaningful reforms. That would deliver a substantial boost to markets by year-end, which is currently not priced in. In either scenario we could see renewed market pricing for accelerated European Central Bank policy normalisation, especially if the [Eurozone economic] data continues to impress," says Bill Street, head of EMEA investments at State Street Global Advisors.
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Le Pen's niece says FN failed to convince voters on euro
Marine Le Pen's niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, a National Front lawmaker, on Sunday said her aunt's softening of the party position on the euro came late in the presidential election campaign and was not well understood by French voters. -
But one fund manager thinks French government bonds could underperform once investors look through the political relief.Franklin Templeton's head of fixed income David Zahn says pressure will build rapidly on Macron to outline exactly how he intends to govern. He says there's been little in his manifesto that suggests he could reduce France's deficit or high debt-to-GDP levels significantly, and French government bonds could see some selling pressure with the gap between French bonds and German bonds growing wider once the initial relief fades and markets focus on fundamentals once again.
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Factbox: A Who's Who of Emmanuel Macron's inner circle
Centrist Emmanuel Macron who was elected on Sunday to be France's youngest leader since Napoleon mostly relied on a small group of 30-somethings to plot his run for the presidency. -
French trade unions warn against Macron win, demonstration due on Monday
France's biggest trade unions have promptly issued warnings over the victory of Emmanuel Macron, with one union calling for a demonstration on May 8. -
TIMELINE of the new president's first month in office:
May 8: The president-elect makes a first official appearance alongside Hollande at Paris' Arc de Triomphe for the annual ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate Victory in Europe Day and the surrender of Nazi forces on May 8, 1945.
May 9-13: Hollande's outgoing Socialist government resigns during this period, paving the way for the president-elect to take office the following week. Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve's government will continue to run day-to-day government business until the new president is sworn in.
May 10: France's Constitutional Council officially announces the final results of the 2017 presidential election.
May 13-14: The new president is likely to be sworn in by Monday May 15 in a transfer of power ceremony at the Elysee presidential palace where the two leaders will meet and the codes for France's nuclear weapons arsenal will be handed over. No precise date has yet been set for the ceremony, although local media have suggested May 14 is most likely.
The president will then name the new prime minister who will work on forming a cabinet. In 2012, the full government was named within two days.
Macron said his first trip would be to see troops based overseas. It is unclear when that could take place, but Hollande in 2012 travelled to Berlin on the same day as he was sworn in.
May 15-19: Candidates from all parties will present during the week their credentials for the June legislative elections for the 577 parliamentary seats in the National Assembly.
May 22: Campaigning begins for the legislative elections.
May 25-27: Macron will have what is expected to be his first contact with foreign leaders. The new president is expected to first attend the NATO heads of state meeting in Brussels on May 25 before travelling to Sicily for a G7 leaders' summit that brings together leaders of the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.
June 11: The first round of the lower house legislative elections take place. Candidates with more than 50 percent of the vote and securing the equivalent of a quarter of registered voters is elected. Those with more than 12.5 percent of the vote can run in the second-round runoff.
June 18: Second round of legislative election takes place. The top candidate is elected.
June 19: A government reshuffle is likely on the basis of the legislative election results.
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Our latest wrapup, as Macron reaches the Louvre to address supporters
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Malaysian court to rule on women accused of killing brother of North Korean leader
KUALA LUMPUR A Malaysian court will decide on Thursday whether to continue hearing a case against two women charged with the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, or acquit them.