Emmanuel Macron's victory over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen has been described as a 'victory without triumph' by the French media after the National Rally gathered an unprecedented number of votes.
Mr Macron, the 44-year-old centrist, won with a 58.54 per cent share of the vote – beating the far-Right Ms Le Pen, 53, on 41.46 per cent, the final results showed.
But his latest victory over his far-right rival was narrower than their last face-off in 2017, when he won over 66 per cent of the vote, and Le Pen's result was the best ever for the far right with 13.2 million people voting for her.
And in a sign of trouble to come, two polls published late Sunday showed that most voters do not wish for him to also carry the parliamentary vote in the June elections.
Whilst Le Pen did not win on Sunday, with 41.5 per cent of the vote, Le Pen's anti-foreigner, anti-system politics of disgruntlement are now more entrenched than ever in the psyche, thinking and political landscape of France.
French daily Le Monde called Macron's win 'an evening of victory without a triumph' after noting a 'historic' number of votes for the far-right, while left-leaning Liberation called it 'a victory without the glory'.
Conservative daily Le Figaro, which ran the front page headline of 'Great victory, great challenges', said after all the difficulties of his first term, Macron's win was 'no mean feat', but also asked: 'Who can possibly believe that it is rooted in popular support?'
In a striking sign of public disenchantment with politics, 8.6 percent of people who voted either delivered a blank ballot or spoilt their papers, interior ministry figures showed.
Turnout was also just 72 per cent, the lowest in any presidential election second-round run-off since 1969.
Le Pen, 53, said she would 'never abandon' the French and was already preparing for the June legislative elections.
'In this defeat, I can't help but feel a form of hope,' she said, adding that the result represents a 'brilliant victory'.
For headscarf-wearing voter Yasmina Aksas, Le Pen's defeat wasn't a celebration moment - not with such strong backing for her and ideas that 'used to be limited to militant far-right groups' becoming increasingly acceptable in polite company.
'It's still 40 per cent of people voting for Le Pen,' the 19-year-old law student said. 'It's not a victory.'
The historic gains for the far right dampened the French leader's celebrations on Sunday night. Addressing supporters in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Macron vowed to heal rifts in a deeply divided country.
'From now on, I am not the candidate of one camp, but everybody's president,' he said.
'Many of our fellow citizens voted for me not because of the ideas I represent, but to block those of the extreme right,' Macron acknowledged.
The president now faces the challenge of parliamentary elections in June, where keeping a majority will be critical to ensuring he can realise his ambitions.