Who is Emmanuel Macron? His life and political career in pictures

From anti-government demonstrations to the coronavirus pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war, there were plenty of challenges faced by Emmanuel Macron. 

Here's a photo essay on Macron's bid and promises for the new term. 

Emmanuel Macron came to power as France's youngest-ever president in 2017 at the age of 39.

He is a former investment banker, a reason why he is called a "political outsider".

At that time, he had said that will be neither on the left nor the right of the political spectrum. 
 

Brigitte is Emmanuel Macron's wife and his former drama teacher. She is 24 years older than the French President and at the time (in 2007), married with three children. 

In a French documentary, Brigitte once told, "We'd call each other all the time and spend hours on the phone. Bit by bit, he defeated all my resistance, in an amazing way, with patience." 

There are a few controversies as well. For example, Anne Fulda, who is one of Macron's biographers once said that it's an unusual love story and it was a story the couple chose not to publicise until he ran for power. 

After Macron's first year in office, he faced some of the most violent anti-government demonstrations since the 1960s when protesters in florescent yellow safety jackets began a nationwide revolt against his policies. 

From the beginning of 2020, he battled a once-in-a-century global pandemic as Covid-19 spread from China, rendering almost all other government business irrelevant and putting paid to his last reform plans. 

For the last month and a half, having weathered Donald Trump's norm-shredding American presidency, he has been on the diplomatic frontlines trying to end Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. 

This time, Macron's chief pitch is continuity and steady leadership at a time of crises, not least during the Covid pandemic and in response to rocketing inflation and to the war in Ukraine. 

He says his political positioning is "neither left, nor right" and his programme borrows from both sides of the traditional divide. 

From the left's toolbox are his proposals to raise the minimum level of pensions, hire more people for the health service, and to make gender equality and tackling school harassment priorities. 

From the right come promises of more tax cuts for companies, of thousands more police officers and judges, and a rise in the retirement age, currently at 62, to help reduce the pension system's massive debt.

He also vowed that 140 million trees would be planted, and that he would put his next prime minister "directly in charge of the ecology plan."

Macron is set to win a second French President term after defeating far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the projections on Sunday (April 24) showed. 

Polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of the vote count projected that Macron was set to win 57.6-58.2 per cent of the vote compared with Le Pen on 41.8-42.4 per cent. 

The people have spoken. Emmanuel Macron comfortably defeated his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, making him the first French President to win a second term in two decades.

As per France’s Ministry of Interior website Macron received 58.5 per cent, with 18.8 million votes, while Le Pen stood at 41.5 per cent with 13.3 million votes. In the 2017 polls, the two candidates stood at 66.1 per cent with 20.7 million votes and 33.9 per cent with 10.6 million votes.

French president Emmanuel Macron

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, congratulated Macron. 

"We can count on France for five more years," Michel wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen tweeted: "I am delighted to be able to continue our excellent cooperation." 

British PM Boris Johnson also congratulated Macron, he tweeted, "Congratulations to @EmmanuelMacron on your re-election as President of France. France is one of our closest and most important allies. I look forward to continuing to work together on the issues which matter most to our two countries and to the world." 

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi congratulated Macron. "The victory of Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election is great news for all of Europe," he said in a statement.