In France, former investment banker and political centrist Emmanuel Macron was elected president Sunday in a decisive victory against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. With the majority of votes counted, Macron won about 65 percent to Le Pen’s 35. Even though Le Pen lost, it was a record performance for her party, the National Front, whose anti-immigrant policies once made it a pariah. Le Pen had campaigned on an openly xenophobic and racist platform, calling for France to crack down on immigration and leave the European Union. On Sunday night, Macron addressed thousands of supporters in front of the Louvre museum in Paris.

President-elect Emmanuel Macron: “Europe and the world expect us to defend the spirit of the Enlightenment, under threat in so many places. They expect us to defend freedom everywhere, to protect the oppressed. They expect us to bring some new hope, a new humanism, that of a safer world, a world of protected freedoms, a world of growth, with more justice, more ecology.”

Macron ran on a pro-trade, pro-EU and pro-NATO platform and will need to secure a majority in next month’s parliamentary election to implement his program. We’ll have more on the French election after headlines with French human rights activist Yasser Louati.