Sunday, May 7, 2017 2:03 PM EDT
Emmanuel Macron, a youthful former investment banker with little political experience, was well ahead in France’s presidential election on Sunday, suggesting that his call for a new centrist approach to politics would handily defeat the staunch nationalism of his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, according to projections based on preliminary results.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. in France, and official results will be tabulated through the night.
If he wins, Mr. Macron, 39, will become the youngest president in the 59-year history of France’s Fifth Republic, after leading an improbable campaign that amounted to a stinging rebuke of the country’s long-dominant political establishment.