Macron celebrates presidential election at the Louvre (21 images)

Celebration of Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French Presidential election at the Louvre, Sunday 7th May 2017. The first round of the Presidential election took place on Sunday 23rd April 2017 with 11 candidates, not including the incumbent President, François Hollande. The favorite at the outset was the (Conservative) candidate for Les Républicains, François Fillon, but his popularity declined dramatically when Le Canard Enchainé revealed that he had been paying...
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Celebration of Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French Presidential election at the Louvre, Sunday 7th May 2017. The first round of the Presidential election took place on Sunday 23rd April 2017 with 11 candidates, not including the incumbent President, François Hollande. The favorite at the outset was the (Conservative) candidate for Les Républicains, François Fillon, but his popularity declined dramatically when Le Canard Enchainé revealed that he had been paying his (English) wife €100,000 a year from public funds, the so called 'Penelopegate' affair. Following the demise of Fillon the next favorite for the first round (but not the second) was Marine le Penn, initially well ahead in the opinion polls. Jean-Luc Mélenchon with his far left party, La France Insoumise, performed unexpectedly well, ending fourth, just behind Fillon. Benoit Hamon, for the Parti Socialiste, failed to impress. The winners of the first round were Emmanuel Macron (24.01%) and Marine le Penn (21.3%). The second round voting took place on Sunday 7th May 2017 and the result was announced at 8.00 pm: Emmanuel Macron 66.1%; Marine le Penn 33.9%. Macron therefore becomes President of France at the age of 39, the youngest President of the Fifth Republic and the youngest ruler of France since Napoleon. The choice of the Louvre for the post election celebration was novel, supposedly representing the historic past, heritage, and continuity, being the seat of power from Henry IV to Napoleon. The ceremony took place in front of the Pyramid designed by Ieoh Ming Pei, commissioned by President François Mitterand in 1983. This was deemed to add a spiritual tone, whilst also having the intriguing aspect of being the symbol of the Illuminati, the secret society said to have infiltrated governments to influence world affairs. Speculation has arisen as to whether Macron's startling success was coordinated by this group. After the result had been announced, Macron gave a speech at his Party Headquarters before departing for the Louvre where he entered the Cour Napoleon and arrived on the stage alone, in monarchical fashion, to the closing stanzas of Hymne à la Joie, the anthem to Europe. He announced to the crowd of several thousand people that "La France l'a emporté" and "La tache qui nous attend est immense et elle commencera dès demain". The Legislatives, the elections to determine the members of the Assemblée Nationale, will take place on the 11th and 18th June. This will be an important determinant to the way forward because, given that 'En Marche' (now 'Les Républicains en Marche') is a new mouvement, the legislatives could be won by the established parties, particularly Les Républicains (now under the leadership of Sarkozy's nominee, François Baroin), in which case, Monsieur Macron would have less freedom of manoeuver.
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