Modi congratulates 'friend' Macron on being re-elected as French President

New Delhi, April 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated his "friend" Emmanuel Macron on being re-elected as the President of France for a second five-year term.

Taking to Twitter, Modi said: "Congratulations to my friend Emmanuel Macron on being re-elected as the President of France! I look forward to continue working together to deepen the India-France Strategic Partnership."

In the run-off presidential election held on Sunday, Macron secured 18,779,641 votes (58.54 per cent) against his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, who got 13,297,760 votes (41.46 per cent)

The margin of Macron's win was narrower than five years ago, when he attracted 66 per cent of votes to the same opponent's 34 per cent.

This was the first time since Jacques Chirac of the right-of-centre Republican party in 2002, that a sitting president has been granted dual terms by French voters, whose preferences have been quite volatile in recent years.