Paris - Centrist Emmanuel Macron has become France's youngest president after his rival Marine Le Pen conceded defeat when exit polls showed he had won 65.5 per cent of the vote. Former banker Macron, 39, has secured a landslide victory after voters rejected Le Pen's populist vision of France. The tense election, which could decide the future of Europe, sees Macron move into the Elysee Palace despite his new party En Marche! 'On the Move' existing for just more than a year. However, the latest polls suggest voter turnout in the election was far lower than the 80 per cent in the first round of polling two weeks ago. Some 65 per cent went to the polling stations, with apathy for both candidates and unseasonal rain to blame, according to the French Interior Ministry. If the 65.5 per cent figure is accurate, it could mean that Britain will face tougher Brexit negotiations as Macron said that the UK can't have the 'best of two worlds' when it leaves the European Union.
And aged just 39, Macron will become the youngest French president since Napoleon Bonaparte, who went on to transform France and Europe and made a bitter enemy out of Britain. A former investment banker he was called into government by Francois Hollande to bring private sector know-how to the France's ailing economy and made Minister for the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs. (FA)