Ex-French PM offers to back Macron in June polls

Traditionally, French voters have handed a parliamentary majority to the newly elected President in the general election.

Valls, who was outgoing president Francois Hollande's premier until late previous year, has also been harshly criticized by his own Socialist Party for his stance. Macron has promised that half of those candidates would be new to elected politics, as he was before his victory on Sunday.

He also has to find and appoint a new prime minister.

Guterres will write a letter to Macron to congratulate him and propose a meeting "in the very near future", said United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric, adding: "We look forward to rapid engagement".

Addressing supporters shortly after initial projections showed she lost, Ms Le Pen said that voters would face the same choice in legislative elections next month, in which she said she meant to lead her party.

The defection highlights the disarray in the Socialist party, whose candidate Benoit Hamon attracted just 6 per cent of votes in the first round of the presidential election.

Attempts to shift the party from its traditional base may not be so easy, however.

Those that want to buy based on a Macron win will already have done so, leaving very few buyers to step in early this morning, while some profit taking is nearly inevitable and will ensure plenty of sellers.

I don't know how many members of l'Assemblee nationale his new En Marche! movement will get.

"He ran a courageous pro-European campaign, stands for openness to the world and is committed decisively to a social market economy".

Macron served as economy minister under Valls between 2014 and 2016.

On Monday, Macron appeared alongside Socialist President Francois Hollande at World War II commemorations, a cordial meeting of the once close friends who became estranged when Macron launched his presidential bid previous year. But I think having put him in power the French people will want him to have the wherewithal to govern. It is up to him now, strengthened by the experience he has acquired with me, to continue his march.

World leaders congratulated Macron, including Putin, who suggested France and Russian Federation must work together to fight against global terrorism - to which both countries have been recent victims.

"The citizens of France have trusted you with leading the country at a hard time for Europe and the whole world community", Mr Putin said in a statement.

What he said: "The growth in threats of terrorism and militant extremism is accompanied by an escalation of local conflicts and the destabilisation of whole regions. In these conditions, it is especially important to overcome mutual mistrust and unite efforts to ensure worldwide stability and security".

Mr Valls' overture received a non-committal response from Mr Macron's party.

Macron's party said the leaked documents dealt with the normal operations of his campaign. Mr Putin and his spokesman have repeatedly denied interfering in the elections of foreign countries.

While he met publicly with Britain's Brexit spearhead and anti-immigration firebrand Nigel Farage, Trump has never made an appearance with the leader of France's far-right National Front.

Clearly, those who voted for other candidates in the first round switched to Macron in their droves, with Le Pen failing to win over this portion of voters.

Changing the name was discussed at the height of Le Pen's efforts to scrub the party image and remove traces of racism and anti-Semitism that scared away potential backers.

The anti-mass migration party's presidential candidate won more than 50 per cent of the vote in 45 districts, and over 45 per cent in another 66 more giving the party the potential to pick up a large number of seats in next month's legislative election, Ouest France reports. As a result, we expect the European markets to perform well given that the political risks have dissipated.