COMMENT | France has chosen its new and youngest president in Emmanuel Macron.

In his victory speech to the crowd on Sunday night, Macron said: "Tonight you won, France won. Everyone told us it was impossible, but they don't know France."

His victory is a signal that you can be young and don't have to be mainstream to win, as long as the people are with you.

Another lesson is that Macron’s victory was a clear rejection of France's mainstream parties, and voters have turned to the 39-year-old to help bring unity to a deeply fractured country.

"A new page of our history has turned this evening, I want that page to be one of hope and renewed trust. The renewal of our public life will be at the base of what I do from the very first day of our presidency," he said.

"I understand the anger, the anxiety, the doubt which many of you have expressed and it is my responsibility to hear that."

The "newcomer", who was the outgoing president Francois Hollande's protege and then economy minister, is a former investment banker running a grassroots movement and a centrist with a radical programme to slash the public sector.

Macron won 66.06 percent of the votes with 99.99 percent of the registered votes counted, France's Interior Ministry said.

People-powered movement

As recently as last year, in April 2016, he established his "people-powered" En Marche (On the Move) movement and four months later he stood down from Hollande's government.

Having established En Marche, Macron marched with the people.

His first major undertaking was the Grande Marche (Big March), when he mobilised his growing ranks of energised but inexperienced activists.

They sent out people to knock on 300,000 doors.

Macron tried something new in France. The volunteers did not just hand out flyers - they carried out 25,000 in-depth interviews of about 15 minutes each with voters across the country.

After winning, he said: "I will not yield to fear, falsehoods, and I will respect each one of you. I will serve you with humility strength, and we stand for liberty, equality and fraternity."

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker wrote on Twitter that he was "happy that the French chose a European future", while European Council president Donald Tusk congratulated the "French people for choosing liberty, equality and fraternity over tyranny of fake news".

British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were also quick to send their congratulatory messages to Macron, who has been outspoken on his desire to work with France's European partners.

US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: "Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next president of France. I look very much forward to working with him."

M KRISHNAMOORTHY is a media coach, associate professor and a certified Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) trainer. As a journalist, he has highlighted society’s concerns and has gone undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, handicapped, salesman and as a Member of Parliament. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian TV networks and the New York Times.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.