France election: 'Many voted to build a barricade against the far-right', says Macron

 

Emmanuel Macron has beaten far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to win the French presidency, projections have shown.

Macron has taken 58% of the vote to Le Pen's 42%, in a narrower victory than their previous contest in 2017.

Speaking to supporters in the centre of Paris, he asked them to not boo the name of Marine Le Pen, saying, "From now on, "I'm no longer the candidate of one camp, but the president of all."

France votes: Oligarchs, demagogues and the media

 A special edition of the show looks at the French election: the billionaire media mogul boosting the far right, and the reporters exposing the movement’s violent underbelly.

Over the course of the French presidential election campaign, roughly one-third of voters have said they will back a candidate from the far right – either Marine Le Pen, who President Emmanuel Macron defeated in 2017, or Eric Zemmour, a former journalist with multiple convictions for hate speech.

Zemmour owes much of his prominence to a news channel owned by media tycoon Vincent Bollore, whose influence increases with each news outlet he takes over.

Al Jazeera Investigations – Generation Hate Part 1

In a two-part investigation, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit goes undercover to expose France’s far-right and reveals secret links between violent extremists and one of France’s biggest political parties. Marine Le Pen recently changed the name of the National Front as part of efforts to reform the party’s image and make it more acceptable to French voters. However, an al Jazeera reporter uncovers close connections between senior politicians in Le Pen’s party and Generation Identity (GI), a far-right youth movement dedicated to expelling Muslims from Europe. GI militants are secretly filmed carrying out racist beatings and performing Nazi salutes. Aurelien Verhassel, the leader of GI branch in the French city of Lille, has convictions for violence but still recruits far-right activists to work in political posts for Le Pen’s party. Elected members of Le Pen’s party in the European Parliament are also caught declaring their support for Generation Identity and its anti-Muslim policies.