Macron will have to straddle divisions as wide as the Seine
President-elect faces tough task in tackling economic and social issues
Paris — Emmanuel Macron may have won Sunday’s presidential election by a comfortable margin, but even his supporters’ enthusiasm is tempered by the scale of the challenge the inexperienced politician faces in tackling France’s deep-seated economic, social and security problems. Macron, a former economy minister who had never previously stood for elected office, beat far-right leader Marine Le Pen by 66% to 34% — a gap well above the 20 or so percentage points surveys had predicted. Helen Lhuillier, a 73-year-old French Canadian who has lived in France for 40 years and attended Macron’s victory rally outside the Louvre museum, said she liked the president-elect’s "policies and his personality, his enthusiasm", but he had work to do. "What he has achieved in a year is impressive," she said, before adding: "I hope he will be able to make progress, but we must be realistic. He has work to do," she said. The 39-year-old centrist has promised to transcend the right-left political divide t...
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