Voters in France voted in Emmanuel Macron for a second term as the country's president following a heated national election. He beat out Marine Le Pen in the presidential run-off.
Le Pen has now conceded defeat with exit polls comfortably seeing Macron win the election. A second five-year term for Mr Macron, if confirmed by official results later on Sunday, would spare France and its allies in Europe and beyond the seismic upheaval of a shift of power in wartime.
Mr Macron’s rival, far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, quickly conceded on Sunday night.
Her campaign had pledged to dilute French ties with the 27-nation EU, the Nato military alliance and Germany would, had she won, have shaken Europe’s security architecture as the continent deals with its worst conflict since the Second World War.
Ms Le Pen also spoke out against sanctions on Russian energy supplies and faced scrutiny during the election campaign over her previous friendliness with the Kremlin.
Polling agencies’ projections released as the last voting stations closed said Mr Macron was on course to beat Ms Le Pen by a double-digit margin.
Five years ago, Mr Macron won a sweeping victory to become France’s youngest president at 39.
The margin is expected to be way smaller this time: Polling agencies Opinionway, Harris and Ifop projected that the 44-year-old pro-European centrist projected to win at least 57% of the vote.
Ms Le Pen was projected to win between 41.5% and 43% support – a still unprecedented result for the 53-year-old on her third attempt to win the French presidency.
Early official results are expected later on Sunday.
