Paris breathes a sigh of relief as Macron takes center stage
08/05/2017 09:25Paris - A fiery dance party broke out in the French capital on Sunday night as Parisian voters celebrated the victory of their new president, Emmanuel Macron.
Thousands gathered in front of the Louvre, waving the tri-colored flag as they embraced one another under a blazing soundtrack of pop music among scantily clad dancers and neon laser lights.
The set was perhaps unconventional for a presidential victory party -- but then again, this was no ordinary election -- nor an ordinary electorate.
Throughout the campaign, Macron's unique political offering spoke to neither the traditional left nor the right, helping shake up an already confused electorate looking for political solutions outside of the norm.
On Sunday night, with 66.06% of the vote secured, Macron overthrew any chance of his opponent, the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, entering a higher political sphere -- and Parisians rejoiced.
It seemed as if the city was released from the plague of a decision unlike any other, collectively embracing a joie de vivre once again, manifested in the form of a new president whose landslide victory was celebrated until the early hours of Monday morning.
In front of two gigantic LED screens with Macron's party logo "En Marche!," a stoic man waving a French flag stood out from a crowd of undulating bodies.
"This is a new story and a new beginning for France," Loic Victor said.
Victor, a 30-year-old international development officer originally from Martinique, a Caribbean island that's an overseas region of France, told CNN he supported Macron from the beginning because he defined a new political class, one that is "not right, not left."
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