Centrist Emmanuel Macron becomes France's new president

PARIS Centrist independent candidate Emmanuel Macron beat Sunday the far-right rival Marine Le Pen to become France's new president, according to exit polls. The polls placed Macron first with 65.9 percent ahead of Le Pen who got 34.1 percent of the vote in the run-off round. The initial percentages can change slightly as the rest of the votes are counted. Macron, a former investment banker, was top adviser on economic issues of outgoing president Francois Hollande from 2012 to 2014, then economy minister in his Socialist government for two years. He later founded his own political movement 'En Marche!' (On the move) in April last year. According to Macron, Le Pen wants to take France back to the 1950s while he wants to pull it into the 21st century. The former economy minister, who has never before run for elected office, is ardently pro-EU and has praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for taking in over a million refugees. "We are not looking to adapt or reform, but to transform," Macron has vowed. Macron, 39, becomes the youngest president of France's Fifth Republic. His presidency will be formally confirmed by mid-May, and followed by two-round legislative elections in June.