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Macron Triumphs Over Le Pen In French Election; France Rejects Far Right In Historic Election; Pres. Trump Congratulates Macron On "Big Win". Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 07, 2017 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: CNN chief national correspondent, Christiane Amanpour is at the Macron rally there in Paris, and CNN international correspondent, Isa Soares, is covering Le Pen campaign in Northern France, which was considered Le Pen's, you know, real stronghold support location.

[15:00:05] Christiane, let me begin with you there in Paris. So, this vote seems to be breaking down to about 60 percent to 40 percent in favor of Macron. That is considered a very big win, isn't it?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is. I mean 60-40 is kind of what they predicted since the second -- since the first round. So in the last two weeks, that's kind of what they were predicting.

But it's still incredibly significant because what it is, is not just a 60-40 win, which by any stretch of the imagination in the rest of the world would be huge, but it is a win for one completely diametrically opposed political vision of the world over another. And that is Macron, the centrist, the tolerant, the outward looking, the pro-European, pro-engagement with the rest of the world versus the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, who is inward looking, who wanted to suspend all immigration, wanted to pull out of the E.U., NATO and all those things and who really campaigned on fear and loathing.

So that's why this is so big. And it's also so big, because up until now the French have always banded together to make sure the national front gets nowhere near the highest political office. This time, it was a little touch and go.

You didn't see the same number of people coming in to the streets after she won the first round. And this is an incredibly poisonous political party that started under her father on a platform of anti- Semitism, denying the holocaust onto which Marine Le Pen's Islamophobia and all sorts of xenophobia. But, she didn't win. And so around the rest of Europe, there has been a lot of congratulations.

But I think, Fredricka, what's really important is that the rest of Europe knows that they dodged the bullet tonight and they have come out and supported him and especially the Germans. Basically, the leaders of Europe have said, "That in order for us to support Macron as he makes reforms in France to be able to fix the employment problem of so many people, then we have to help him by cutting back on this austerity program that we've had basically since the crash, since 2008."

So that is very, very significant, what the Germans have said. And it could begin to change the economic equation and try to -- and make people understand that the major European leaders are understanding the hurt that many of their employees and workers have been going through over the last several years.

WHITFIELD: And so, Christiane, now let's talk about the potential relationship at this point for -- between the U.S. and France because former President Barack Obama has, you know, did inject himself into this election and he, you know, threw his endorsement behind Emanuel Macron.

President Trump at one point leaned toward Le Pen, even though one of his most recent tweets he said, you know, the French elections "interesting." So, how will Trump be able to -- what are the conditions? Would he be reaching out to Macron, you know, after this kind of landslide win in terms of how they find common ground?

AMANPOUR: Well, I just had Macron's spokeswoman, Laurence Haim. It is the first word we've had out of the Macron headquarters since the win and we had a world exclusive with that. She hasn't talked to anybody else.

And one of the things she said was that we must work with the United States. Yes, we won. Yes, maybe President Trump would have preferred a sort of soul system, Marine Le pen, but we won. We were elected democratically just as he was elected democratically and we have to be able to work together to address massive global issues, for instance, the fight against terrorism obviously.

But also for instance, the French are very, very, very keen obviously to protect the global climate change, of course, that was struck right here in Paris in 2015. And, you know, the Trump administration is trying to figure out, are they going to get out of it? Are they going to stay in? Are they going to look for legal loopholes to diminish U.S. participation? And they are obviously very, very keen because all of Europe is to keep that intact, the climate, of course.

So they will be meeting, Macron and Trump, at the G7 at the end of this month and it will be a chance to see how this relationship resets. But I think what's really vital to understand is that Brexit, Nigel Farage, you know, Donald Trump, they all believe that this was an unstoppable wave of populism, nationalism, call it what you want, but anti-globalization, anti-immigration that was going to move around the whole democratic world.

France is the most important of all these countries having elections right now in Europe to have said no, faster, it stops right here. And France comes after Netherlands did that last month in March and after the Austrians did it a few months before that.

[15:05:05] They said no to very close elections that pitted pro-Europe versus nationalism public. Now, Macron is speaking right now. WHITFIELD: OK. Let's listen then.

AMANPOUR: I don't know whether you're going to go it.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

AMANPOUR: But this is him.

WHITFIELD: Let's do that. All right, Christiane, thank you so much. Emanuel Macron, a president-elect.

EMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF FRANCE: Thank you from the bottom of my heart, my gratitude to all of you who have supported me and voted for me. I won't forget you. I will put all my care and energy in being worthy of your trust.

But at this moment, it's up to all of you, citizens of this country that I want to address. Address as to your choices many difficulties that we congest (ph) for far too long and I know none. Not the economic difficulties, the moral weakening of the country, the political weakening. But, today, I want to address a greeting to my adversary.

I know that the country is divided and has led to people voting to -- for extremes. I understand the anger, the anxiety, the doubt, which many of you have expressed. And it is my responsibility to hear that, protecting the most vulnerable, organizing solidarity, fighting all forms of inequality and discrimination in struggling, fighting implacably for your security and by guaranteeing the unity of the nation, because behind every single word that I have spoken, I know that there are faces of men and women, children, and families, whole lives.

There are you and your nearest and dearest and it is you who, tonight, I am addressing. All of you together, the people of France, we have duties to our country. We are the heirs of a great history and a great humanist message, which is rest to the entire world. This history and this message, we must transmit, first of all, to our children and more important than that we have to take them into the future and give us a new vigor.

I will defend France, its vitals interests, its image, its message, and I take -- make this commitment before you. I shall defend Europe, the community of fates, which the people who are confident have chosen. It is our civilization which is at stake, our freedom, our values and our hopes. And I shall do everything to strengthen Europe and the people who form it and our citizens.

I address on behalf of you a salute from fraternal France and I assure you that France will be for international cooperation, for security and development and also fight against the climate change. And I want to say to everybody that France will be in the first rank fighting against terrorism internationally and domestically. And we will lead that fight as long as it lasts without weakening.

Dear citizens, a new page in our long history is turned this evening. I want that page to be that of hope and refound trust. The renewal of our public life will be that of everybody tomorrow. The renewal of our public life, pluralism, democracy from the very first day of my presidency will be the very foundation of my activity and I will not let any obstacle come in my way. I shall act with determination and respect to everybody because jobs, education, and culture are at stake. And we will build a better future.

Men and women of France, dear citizens, I want this evening to salute President Hollande who has worked for five years for our country. And in the next five years, my responsibility will be to allay fears, to make sure that we become more optimistic to find again the spirit of conquest, which determines thoughts better than anything else.

[15:10:03] My determination is to bring all men and women together to confront these gigantic challenges before us and to act. And some of these challenges are enormous, like the digital revolution, the Europe and others are threats like terrorism.

I will struggle with all my strength against the divisions which subvert us. And it is only that way that we can give back to the people of France, to each and every one, in their professional and family life, the opportunities that France owes you.

We must love France right from the very beginning. Right from this evening, I shall, with humility and devotion with determination, serve France on behalf of you. Long live the republic. Long live France.

WHITFIELD: All right, you're listening to the French President-elect Emmanuel Macron there. As you also see in the larger screen here at the Louvre his supporters who are at his headquarters waving the flags there because this is a victory for Emmanuel Macron.

You heard him in his victory speech there saying he understands the anger and the anxiety and the doubt. His responsibility is to hear that. He is pledging that in his five-year term he will try to address all forms of discrimination.

This election has been described as very divisive as he took on the right-wing candidate, Marine Le Pen, who in her concession speech she talked about the landscape of a decomposition of political life there in France and that she saw a rift between patriots and liberals. And you heard Macron there say that he, in the next five years, his responsibility is to allay all fierce.

So our Christiane Amanpour is there at the Louvre. We also have with us Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. And then at some point, we'll also go to the northern portion of France because that was the stronghold of the Le Pen support and that's where we find our Isa Suarez.

So, Ron, let me go to you because, you know, Le pen represented that populist movement and she also represented that the wave of this populism was gaining steam. But with her defeat now, and with Macron's words there committing to an inclusive life there in France, does that mean that puts a real dent in that populist movement that has made a -- that has been traveling globally? RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: As Christiane noted before, the wave so far this year has crested in Europe, I mean in Austria, in Netherlands, now in France, Germany coming up as well. The Alternative for Deutschland party, the AfD, that kind of Le Pen type party, all of which have fallen short and AfD has lost a great deal of support in polling.

But I think this election just underscores how politics across the west is being reoriented around a new fault line. In essence, we have -- you see here in Paris, a coalition of transformation in which you have a coalition of voters who are largely urbanized, largely post- industrial, white collar, comfortable with demographic and cultural change who are essentially comfortable with a more globalized integrated diverse world.

And then you have on all of these fronts, whether it was Donald Trump here in the U.S. or Brexit in the U.K. or Le Pen in Europe -- in France and Hofer in Austria, you have a coalition that's mostly non- urban and that is uneasy about gold -- demographic, cultural and economic change. You feel that they're being left behind or slighted. And this is the fault line.

You know, in the first round of voting, Le Pen won less than 5 percent of the vote in Paris. We'll see the final numbers, but I'm -- I assume it's going to be very, very low again. And this is where we are seeing our politics divide.

Certainly here in the U.S., this was the fault line in this election. And it is increasingly, I think, kind of as Christiane put it, open versus close, outward versus insular. That is becoming much more than the traditional dividing line of class, the kind of the fault line that is reshaping politics in country after country.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, French election is very meaningful to the U.S. So, David Axelrod, formerly campaign manager of Barack Obama, you know tweeted Barack Obama endorsing Emmanuel Macron, protest leaned in for Putin back to Le Pen. After Macron's land flight today, will Trump reach out? How would you answer that question, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Look, he has to. I mean, you know, President Trump was very cautious in his language for most of the campaign, though he did, you know, at some point, clearly put a thumb on the scale for Le Pen when he said that she was strongest on immigration, strongest on the things that have been happening in France and certainly Steve Bannon has spoken before as --

[15:15:03] WHITFIELD: And then more recently, he went a little bit more neutral by describing it as interesting.

BROWNSTEIN: Right, interesting.

WHITFIELD: But, go ahead.

BROWNSTEIN: But, you know, he basically made clear, you know, that he was closer to Le Pen as in fact he was. And, you know, there's no alternative, but to work with an ally as important as France. But it was striking that in Macron's speech, he talked about reaffirming the desire, for example, the deal collectively and globally with climate change when the president may be on the brink of pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement signed by, essentially, every nation in the world.

This is a very different vision. Macron went further than I think Hillary Clinton did in explicitly endorsing the vision of a globalized world working together communally against problems. She kind of hedged the scales a little bit much more on trade and kind of left her in between.

So, he is someone who is unequivocally defending the E.U., defending kind of global cooperation, and it is a stance that will, I think, put him in conflict with President Trump on many issues even if they say they want to work together.

WHITFIELD: And then Christiane there at the Louvre there, you know, earlier you were talking about, you know, Trump and Macron are going to be seeing each other at the G7, which is this month. Macron is going to be inaugurated in just a week.

And we know that immigration were really has been at the heart of this rise in populism and we just heard Macron say that he was determined to bring all people together. What might that first meeting be like between the two given Trump's stance on immigration versus now Macron's on immigration?

AMANPOUR: Well, you know, Fredricka, I don't think they'll have much to say to each other on that particular level because, you know, we're talking about the United States all the way across the Atlantic and Europe. It's a very different immigration and refugee situation. But, certainly, he will talk to the president, as his spokeswoman told me, about their joint struggles against terrorism.

Also, about what the French hold very dear and so do all of Europe about hanging on to the heart and soul of the Paris climate, of course. That we were all hearing reporting on when it was signed in December of 2015, and which as you know, the Trump administration has been having sort of this internal struggle as to whether they're going to, you know, abide by it or not, whether they're going to sneak through legal loopholes or what. But the French's absolutely want to hang on to it. That is what motivates young people all over Europe. As you can hear, it's very noisy behind me, so I hope you can still hear me.

WHITFIELD: I can.

AMANPOUR: But he called and you saw on his platform, French together, and that will be the challenge. Because let's face it, even though he won, it is absolutely basically unprecedented that a far-right extremist xenophobic party that was built on anti-Semitism and denying the holocaust that now led Islamaphobia on top of it has got even whatever it turns out to be, 34 or 35 --

WHITFIELD: Right. AMANPOUR: -- whatever the percentage turns out to be. That is a big deal. And that's going to be hard to work back.

WHITFIELD: Right. And it's going to be a big deal. It's going to be very difficult. Perhaps, say one of the biggest obstacles for Macron to now try to appeal to the supporters of Le Pen now that he is president-elect.

All right, thanks so much Christiane and Ron Brownstein. We'll get right back to you. We're going to take a short break right now as we continue to follow the victory now of centrist candidate, Emmanuel Macron, there in France.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:42] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. A celebratory scene there, almost like a party there at the Louvre in Paris with the victory of centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron.

He was considered the outsider as was his competitor, right-wing nationalist Marine La Pen. And affiliates -- our affiliates there is conveying that the estimate was 60-40, kind of split of Macron winning today in this second and final phase of French elections. Let's talk more about the potential impact, not just for France, but for the E.U. and across upon here in the U.S.

Back with us now, Senior Political Analyst and Senior Editor for the Atlantic Ron Brownstein and former Chief of Staff for Republican Senator Mike Lee, Boyd Matheson. All right, glad you could both be with us.

So we just heard from Emmanuel Macron in his victory speech and he really try to layout words of comfort, especially as he said he wanted to allay the fears of so many since this election really underscored the division between -- the voting public there of a population of 67 million there in France.

He pledged that we have duties to our country and he said France is moving toward a page "of hope and refound trust." And, you know, Boyd, he particularly -- because when we talk about the endorsements leading up to this election, President Trump loosely kind of endorsed or at least had kind words, I should say, for Marine Le Pen. And then he called the election "interesting."

Whereas, former President Barack Obama laid out a, you know, flat-out endorsement of Emmanuel Macron. So, Boyd, in your view, did either one of, you know, those people, Trump or Obama, in any way influence the outcome of this French election?

BOYD MATHESON, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, REPUBLICAN SENATOR MIKE LEE: I don't know that it was a great impact by either of them weighing in on that. I do think the thing that's fascinating is that both of the major political parties were rejected in France as well, just as they sort of were here in the United States.

And I think what the president-elect of France now was able to do was able to transcend the anger, the fear, the frustration, and actually get to an agenda and I think that's why he was the winner today.

[15:25:06] It makes you wonder what would have happened here in the United States. Had there been serious alternatives to both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party who were really both kind of dividing the people and the people were saying, "You know, I'm not really upon to the Hillary band wagon, but I'm not real comfortable with Trump's nationalism either." And so it will be interesting to see how this continues to play in France and then what those ramifications will be back here in the United States.

Will it lead to more offshoots from both the Democratic and Republican Party? Because, frankly, I think the American people are tired of both. They feel like both have kind of left them behind. And someone with an agenda, not just the anger and fear component, but a real agenda could really change the game here in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: And at least for Macron, you know, among -- apart of his agenda he says he's determined to bring all people together after such a divisive election.

And just as we were speaking, Boyd, President Trump did send out a tweet congratulating Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next president of France. "I look very much toward working -- look very much forward to working with him."

So, Ron, they will be meeting face-to-face for the first time in the G7 this month. What will that meeting be like? You know, how will Macron kind of either layout what his expectations are, or vice versa?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, Fred, I've been covering U.S. politics since 1994. And how about back traps for the French election that --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: I mean it's the party.

BROWNSTEIN: I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as dramatic as a rally in the shadow of the Louvre. I mean, it's really pretty incredible. Look, I think Macron has an inimical vision of how the world works, much like Merkel does to President Trump.

There is some area of overlap on ISIS in recognizing the threat that that poses. But in terms of kind of the role of the global community verse shifting power and back toward individual nations, toward global integration and the economy, toward the free flow of people and products and ideas, they are on very different pages.

And as we said in his -- even in his acceptance -- in his victory speech, he talked about maintaining action on climate where the president may be days away from removing the U.S. from one of the biggest diplomatic achievements of the Obama administration, which is the global agreement for a Paris Climate Treaty.

And I would say to Boyd's point, which is really interesting and I think important. As I said before, you are seeing politics being kind of shaken from the axis because we have a new divide. We have a new fault line that doesn't entirely trap with the existing political alignments in any countries where essentially politics is being split along the lines of transformation versus restoration.

And you have voters who are fundamentally comfortable with a more globalize world, more cultural and demographic diversity who are largely urbanized. And you have voters who are uneasy about demographic, cultural, and economic change who are more blue collar and more non-urbanized.

Now, we said before, Marine Le Pen won 5 percent or less of the vote in Paris in the first round. I'm betting it wasn't a lot higher. And the better any kind of, you know, formally thriving but now, you know, depressed blue collar towns.

Here in the U.S., Hillary Clinton won 88 of the 100 largest counties in the United States, an incredible unprecedented number, but she won only 400 of the other 3,000. This is how politics are dividing and in many ways it is straining both parties to adapt to this new aligning creative kind of openings that Boyd talked about.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Some real parallels there. All right, Ron, Boyd, if I could ask you just hold on tight along with the music flow a little bit to our break and we'll be right back as folks in Paris, they're celebrating the win of Emmanuel Macron. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:58] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A huge victory party there at the Louvre in Paris where that entire esplanade there is covered with people and flags all pouring out in great support of the new president-elect of France, Emmanuel Macron.

39-year-old investment banker, considered an out signer -- outsider, rather, someone with no elected political experience, however, he was a finance minister under President Hollande administration. Hollande has already sent great congratulations to Emmanuel Macron.

And also there in of this flood of people there, our own Christiane Amanpour, who was there with many supporters there. Many folks got a chance to hear from Macron who kind of re-pledged his dedication to an inclusive government and he says he wants to allay the fears of those who are filled with anxiety and anger. Christiane?

AMANPOUR: Well, it just started up again, this amazing music. You think you're in a discotheque here. We're waiting for Emmanuel Macron to turn up here, sometime around 10:30 on time (ph). He's already delivered his speech at his own internal headquarters and that was projected on huge screens here at the Louvre. But right here, literally tens of thousands of people have been pouring in to hear to first hear the results, which were at 8:00 p.m. local. And they're still coming in.

It's a great big party and they're waiting to hear from their new president himself. I must say, watching his acceptance speech at his headquarters, he was very sober. You could see the magnitude of the office that he had just won weighing on his shoulders.

He's 39 years old. He's never been elected to anything. He started this movement by dropping out of the socialist party, dropping out of the socialist government of President Hollande and deciding that France needed something different and he started this one year ago. And here he is today as the next president of France.

[15:35:10] And this is not just any other election. I've covered many French elections. This is as different as I've ever seen.

Firstly, it pitted two dramatically different world views against each other. Emmanuel Macron proudly outward looking pro-European centrist and wanting to gather everybody into the big tent of hope and light and wanting to do everything to move away from the very divisive election campaign that his opponent, Marine Le Pen, had waged.

Even in her concession speech tonight, she talked about ongoing conflict. She used that word, between patriots, which she calls herself and her own party, and liberals. Macron has had on his podium tonight, (inaudible), French ties (ph) together. He wants to bring everybody together and he is not going to concede the patriot badge to anybody. He says, "We can all be patriots. We can all be reformists. We can all be tolerant. We can look out and we can make a better future for France."

So this is huge for France, huge for Europe. We should feel a total disillusion if Marine Le Pen has won because just like the Brexit did (ph), she wanted to pull France out of Europe. And that would have been dramatic, because France and Germany created Europe. They were the big drivers 40 odd years ago. So we've had amazing response from Europe.

And, actually, very dramatic political response from Germany where they have admitted that they cannot, at this time, keep pushing the austerity project. They said, "If our partner in France is going to work for reforms for all of us we cannot keep pushing this austerity project." That was from the foreign ministry. And it was very, very important. They talked about having to -- Germany having to rethink its economic European wide project right now. So it's very important moment for everybody.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

AMANPOUR: Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. The ramifications are huge. I mean, they really cannot be overstated. When you talk about varying global views between Le Pen and Macron, I mean -- but clearly there were other differences in them as well, their demeanor.

I mean, in the last debate it was described that Le Pen really kind of went for the jugular. You know, she had a much more kind of attack, kind of approach, whereas he took a much more diplomatic approach.

Just listening to his word in his victory speech he talked again about the inclusion, his determination to bring all people together. So what about whether this strengthens the E.U. as well by way of this victory for Emmanuel Macron who was very much been in support of the E.U., of keeping NATO together as opposed to Le Pen who wanted to dismantle both.

AMANPOUR: Well, it's a huge victory. Look, as I said, it's the difference between Europe continuing and I'm not being dramatic here. It's the difference between the E.U. continuing as a union and not.

Marine Le Pen was determined to do everything she could to pull France out of the E.U. so that European Union has breath (ph) a massive sign of relief. I spoke to the president of the European parliament about a week before the elections, a week before the first round. And I said to him, "So, you know, do you have a plan B in case Marine Le Pen wins?" And he said "No. We have no plan B. We are just sure she's not going to win."

And I have to say, it has been a very brave campaign waved by Emmanuel Macron at a time when Europe, Britain, to an extent the United States, really sort of crowding out the European vision, the European project. He proudly stood with European flags and French flags. He said "We can be both. We can be proud patriotic French and we can be open outward looking in European."

72 years of peace, a massive trading block of 500 million people, and guess what, even though many people in France are hurt economically, even though France is at a turning point in sort of its identity, France compared to many other countries is doing well. It has a very good social net and a very good economy compared to many other countries.

Yes, things need to improve. And, yes, politics needs to be more inclusive. And, yes, they need a breakaway from the old way of doing political business. But, no, they voted against the politics of fear and hate and the extreme right-wing white nationalism that Marine Le Pen promise to this country. They've done it.

[15:40:16] But, we still have legislative elections to go next month. Macron has to get himself a majority or at least some working group in parliament who doesn't have a party. He doesn't have M.P.s. He's got to, you know, go that route as well. So, this is an ongoing political project. But today, the French showed something that the rest of Europe and the rest of France is pleased that they did.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, a divisive race. One thing we can be both French and European. The other one, Le Pen, Marine Le Pen saying choose France and Macron wins with that dual identity of we can be French and we can be European.

All right, thank you so much. Christiane Amanpour there at the Louvre there in Paris which is a huge party as they await a yet, another live of victory speech from Emmanuel Macron, the new French president- elect. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Lots of excitement there at the Louvre, the headquarters of Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old investment banker, the one with no political elected experience who is now president-elect of France.

The White House has released a statement just moments ago on these French elections saying, "We congratulate President-elect Macron and the people of France on their successful presidential election. We look forward to working with the new president and continuing our close cooperation with the French government."

And the statement coming not long after President Trump tweeted out a congratulations saying, "Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next president of France. I look very much forward to working with him."

The two will be meeting face-to-face for the first time as the president-elect and the President of the United States both in attendance at the G7 later on this month in May.

Let's go now to our International Correspondent Cyril Vanier, because he is at a cafe, maybe not too far away from the Louvre where it is like a huge party scene there. But, Cyril, you have been talking to people there in a much more controlled setting about their thoughts about this French election. What are they saying?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fredricka. You know, it's really interesting, actually, when you step away from the campaign headquarters and from the mass rally that's going on right now at the Louvre, in support of Emmanuel Macron. You get a much more subtle, much more nuance picture of what French people think.

And in the cafe behind me, we've got a little bit of everything. We spoke to several Macron supporters. You would expect them to be overjoyed, wouldn't you, especially when you look at the numbers. It looks like it's going to be 65 to 35 lopsided victory in favor of Emmanuel Macron. But when you speak to people here, they're not over the moon.

[15:45:03] And the reason for that -- well, you can put Emmanuel Macron voters in two categories, Fredricka. First of all, there are those who are actually enthusiastic, who believe that he's going to boost the French economy and rule in a bipartisan way, take a good ideas from the left and right, OK.

But you also have, and this is a large -- a significant part of the French voting population, the reluctance Emmanuel Macron voter. People who voted for him because it was a way of keeping the far-right and keeping Marine Le Pen out of power. They would have voted for anybody who would have been in a runoff with Marine Le Pen.

So in other words, those people are seeing the Macron victory, you know, and they begrudgingly accept that he is their new president, but they know deep down that they weren't in favor of him so much as they were against the other guy, or in this case the other lady, and that's Marine Le Pen.

And this is, you know, and it's a very interesting dynamic. And it's going to be very important for Emmanuel Macron to sort of handle this as he prepares to govern because the numbers, the 65 percent or so people who voted for him just don't reflect the level of support he have within the population president.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's interesting, Cyril, because either way, in terms of -- this is the second phase. I mean these were the two, you know, top contenders after the first phase when, you know, there were at least six, wasn't this considered to be an election of change?

Both candidates were running on change. But it's Macron who would end up winning even though many of the Le Pen supporters would describe him as an elitist, somebody would not be able to bring back the factory jobs that, you know, have been lost in the outskirts of France. So, what is it about Macron that does elicit hope? Is it the issue of that global inclusion, that message that he sent?

VANIER: Yeah. We were speaking to you earlier and we had the owner of the cafe here, if you remember, who was a Macron supporter. And the reasons really for his support were that, A, Emmanuel Macron is young. So there is a chance, but it's not a guarantee, it is not a given, but there is a chance that Mr. Macron will bring some new way of governing. And they're not sure this is going to happen, but they're keeping their fingers crossed that this might happen. So that's number one.

Number two, they believe Mr. Macron may try to rule with support from both sides of the aisle, the left and the right and come to some common sense conclusion, you know. It's what American viewers like too, which is bipartisan ideas. And that's something that in France hasn't been happening a lot you know.

Power has been shared between the left and the right and back from one to the other. And Mr. Macron is saying, "I'm going to break those codes. I'm going to govern differently." And it remains to be seen whether that can actually happen.

Key to his ability to do that, Fredricka, is going to be what happens a month from now. The parliamentary elections are seen as the third round of the presidential election. Those will determine whether he has a majority in parliament.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And how will he live up to that pledge for his five-year term. His pledge that reiterated, "In the next five-years my responsibility is to allay fears and my determination to bring all people together." All right, Cyril Vanier, thank you so much at a beautiful cafe there in Paris. All right, we will be right back.

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[15:53:24] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Live pictures right now, right there at the Louvre in Paris, France, where people are waving tricolor of French flags of blue, white, and red, all in support of the victory of a 39-year-old investment banker who just won handedly, Emanuel Macron, now the president-elect there of France.

He ran on a campaign of global inclusion, of pro-European union, pro- France, pro-NAFTA. And people there holding signs that say "Hope Beats Hate." And in a victory speech not long ago, he also said he wants to allay fears. He says he is determined to bring all people together.

Macron will be inaugurated just one week from now. And then later on in the month he will be at the G7 where he will meet face-to-face with among country leaders, President Donald Trump. So momentarily, we also expect that Macron will be meeting face-to-face with a number of his supporters' right there live at the Louvre there in Paris.

All right, tonight on CNN, Anthony Bourdain takes you through Spain. He visits San Sebastian, a resort town where world renowned restaurant serve up exquisite cuisine. Here now is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. It's anywhere to go.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST (on camera): If I'm lost, I'm only lost 50 minutes. I always find my way (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're funny.

(OFF-MIC)

BOURDAIN (voice-over): Juan Mari Arzak has been since I first met him, in his amazing and accomplished daughter, Elena, my mentor and friend, steadfast and loyal in every way a person could be. Father and daughter are two of the greatest chefs in the world.

[15:55:09] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bueno.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

JUAN MARI ARZAK, SPANISH CHEF: You're happy.

BOURDAIN (on camera): Very, (inaudible). I love it here.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BOURDAIN (voice-over): These are what you called pinchos around here, not tapas. These incredible batteries of delicious, delicious things, generally located near one another so you can easily, and very pleasurably, go out for what's called a (inaudible) a "bar crawl," grazing for the specialties of each place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And, yes, I am hungry. All right, watch the full episode of "BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Our coverage of the French elections when we come back.

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