This story a short time ago from the hill, temperature officials said today that the u. S. Needs to confront russia for providing arms to the taliban. Speaking to reporters in kabul, afghanistan, defense secretary james mattis and hyten nick olson did not get into specifics, but general nicholson said hes not disputing reports that russia is providing support to the taliban. Heres more of that story in thehill. Com, and that briefing is on our web site at cspan. Org. A look now at france 24s coverage of yesterdays elections as farright candidate Marine Le Pen and independent centrist candidate Emanuel Marcon won the first round in frances president ial elections. The runoff is may 6th. Their ricketily speeches follow. Victory speeches follow. So there we have it, Emanuel Marcon ahead of Marine Le Pen, 21. 7 of the vote. This means that for the First Time Ever in the history of the fifth republic, the two mainstream parties are eliminated after round one, the socialist and the conservatives, and two outsiders, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face off on may 7th. We thought there might be three names, we now have two names. Indeed. Lets take a look at how other candidates fared. You can see, certainly, an extremely tight race. Look at that, as of now they have the same score, they are tied for third, and then look at that dip there for the socialist party, hamon, 6. 2 thats incredible. It really is incredible, under the 10 mark. And lets see if we can take a look at the other candidates just to see where all 11 candidates came in. Okay. And then we see pretty much trailing in, 1. 5, 1. 2. Okay. So that being said, mark, this is historic. Yes. As i just said, no one would have bet that Emanuel Marcon would be in the lead. Marine le pen is ending just a tad under 22 . Obviously, this pushes her through to the second round. This is a feat that she, by her father in 2002, but now shell be facing off against emanuel mar con and already to project ourselves on may 7th. The second round, all the polls have shown that Emanuel Marcon would win canwould become frances next would win and would become frances next president. Obviously, there are two weeks left to go, but if so, he would become a very, very young president of france. But, obviously, this is a whole new Campaign Starting tonight. Indeed. And what a shakeup. Lets see, i dont know if we have the images we can, perhaps, pull up of the headquarters there, if we have just to see reaction to this news as it come in. [cheers and applause] there we have the images from Emanuel Marcon supporters, they are certainly ecstatic that their candidate has pulled off something thats never been seen before here in france. Once again, it cannot be understated, the fact that this 39yearold has pulled off this victory, and he does not belong to a political party. He started his own movement a year ago, and he has been able to galvanize support. And that is what we see there. Once again, he came out on top. Lets see, i dont know if we can perhaps pull up the images that we have from northern france where weve got Marine Le Pens headquarters, but im sure the images must be similar. I actually want to pull in alexis who has joined us here, what is your take on what we have just seen happen . As you said, historic, because the two main parties are out because emanuel mar cone has no party. And Marine Le Pen has been running, like the past three months she wasnt to be number one and move in front of her. But clearly, emanuel macron has more votes. And the big parties will have to think ahead in how they recompose and whats going to be next. Because a lot of people will join either or. And some people from the right saying, well, no, even Marine Le Pen might be the new right, and Emmanuel Macron might be so well have to wait and see. Hamon being sixth in the polls is very low. Obviously, going to come out very quickly in the mainstream parties. Angela, one thing we can say for once because weve been criticizing the polling institutes [laughter] they were right. Finish they predicted macron versus le pen, and at least this is estimated from our partner, ipsos, but this is not an exit poll, this is taken from a sample of polling stations and in a very, very close election, they were very, very right. 19. 5 for millechand was exactly predicted on friday, the two of them tied at that number. So thats extraordinary. They will be at least happy. The other thing i think thats very noticeable is this is a clear shift to the right in france if you add up disregarding the smaller candidates, 19. 5 for millechand, sixpoint something for hamon. The right certainly tried to present him as someone who wasnt quite in the middle, but was more to the left. But he is a centrist candidate more or less, and that means that the centrist candidate, the main stream right candidate and the farright candidate collected a huge majority of the votes. And the question now before we go into the second round will be whether to take a leap into the unknown with Marine Le Pen, because a lot of the next round will be about europe, and she wants a referendum on leaving the European Union, she wants a referendum on leaving the euro, she wants to leave nato. These are big, big decisions. And so macron come to present the status quo and hope in the future. Le pen will represent what shes always represented, and perhaps french voters will feel that her time is right. But it looks like nothing can be predicted, but it look like macron will probably win. That being said, when we see these two candidates and as we mentioned, none from the traditional parties are we seeing frances just Political Landscape and really things shifting completely and starting anew . As you had mentioned earlier, this is, you know, the fifth republic. It has ailments, and were seeing that. Is this a fruition of that . Well, certainly, theres a point to be made this is the collapse of the two mainstream parties. And the point we were making earlier about is a crisis of party actually part of the crisis of the regime makes a very interesting deliberation. The question, the immediate question now is what happens in the republican and the Party Socialist civil war. [laughter] they are going to tear themselves apart now. Yeah. And that actually tells us something about what happens in the future, because in a sense this fifth republic, if you like, only properly functions the be you have a highly personalized president and is so on, but that president has a parliamentary majority. And that is going to create enormous problems. The point being made that, you know, macron doesnt even have a party, let alone a majority in parliament. And le pen, i mean, she got two mps. So there is going to be an enormous rocky ride from now on. Okay. Were just going to have to interject because we are going to cross to Claire Williams who is at Emmanuel Macrons rally there at the headquarters. Claire, i can imagine lots of Energy Behind you. [cheers and applause] absolutely. I mean, a bunch of people behind me are absolutely ecstatic. They know now that theres a very good chance that emanueling macron will be the next president of france. Not a done deal, two more weeks of campaigning to go, but theyre pretty confident. There is one thing we need to think about, you can hear them behind me, theyre very confident. But the parliamentary elections up in may, and he does not have a party. 14,000 people across the country have said they would like to see a candidate, so theres lot of interest, but therell be newcomers to politics. Emmanuel macron, certainly hes a happy, confident man today, but hes also got to think about the parliamentary elections which happen in france in june. Thank you, claire. And as were speaking, some reactions are coming from french politicians, especially on the conservative side. The leading republican candidate [inaudible] says the result is an earthquake for us, while another and thats more interesting for round two. Another leader of the party has already called for a vote in favor of e hand well macron in the Emmanuel Macron in the second round. Well see much more of this. But in the meantime, lets cross to northern france to the National Front headquarters. Im imagining, katherine nicholson, that the mood is rather festive, although maybe, maybe Marine Le Pen was hoping and she repeated this that she would come out first . Absolutely. I mean, when we started looking at polling for this election, marine he enwas far and away the front le pen was far and away the frontrunner, well above 25 , which is a much higher score than she ended up getting. Theres quite a lot of booing going on, thats because the people who have gathered here are watching french tv. That was where they saw the announcement also first round provisional results. Hamon is currently speaking, the socialist party candidate. The people here have been pretty much booing anyone whos not from the National Front, i have to say. They also booed Emmanuel Macrons National Headquarters were shown as well as the republican party. At the exact moment when we found out those provisional results, however, there was a real outpouring of chants, of singing, people saying were going to win. But, yes, what you say, an unmitigated jubilant atmosphere here. We will, of course, wait to see what Marine Le Pen has herself to say when she turns up laterren on. Katherine, weve got some reaction to her victory although in second place, but many reacting, saying that her project will, quote, cause chaos. This is really when we are going to see, indeed, what she has to offer come under tight scrutiny. Indeed, yes. And i think it is going to be a very interesting debate between the two rounds, because Emmanuel Macron is very much the centrist candidate, Marine Le Pen has been hoping her farright message for quite a few years, working on those heartland issues of security, of immigration, of fighting terrorism. Quite a few of her supporters here this evening now, those really the issues that they keep mentioning to me time and time again. They want france to close its borders to stop militants coming in from Foreign Countries and bringing in arms and that kind of thing. Lot of people here do want to see france leave the European Union, and Marine Le Pen has promised at least six months of negotiation with the European Union on frances option with it and then a reference tunnel for the french people. Referendum for the french people. There has been growing antie. U. Sentiment. Theres a lot of nostalgia here in this room katherine . Thank you. We have to cut you off because hamon, the socialist candidate, is speaking right now. [speaking french] translator we have to defeat the National Front, and we have to defeat the extreme right. [applause] by voting for Emmanuel Macron. Even if e hand well macron is not Emmanuel Macron is not a man of the left, and hes certainly not entitled to represent the left, i still make a clear, total distinction between a political necessary and an enemy of the republic. [applause] this is no time for levity, no time for levity. The struggle goes on. Already after the is second round of president ial elections, well have the legislative elections, and already thinking of all those who voted for us, i will never leave you, never abandon you. [applause] because you represent the hope of the left, and its not only the duty of the left, but it is our shared [inaudible] because i know where i come from and why i struggle. I will always continue speaking to the intelligence of the great french people. [applause] today, therefore, long live the republic, and tomorrow long live the left. Thank you. [cheers and applause] there you have the socialist candidate, hamon, just addressing his supporters there. Of course, a bit of a tough pill for him to wallow, mark, once again. Once again, these estimates we have to just really insist, these are estimates, of course, that have been taken on initial vote tallies. Once again theyve given him only just over 6 . Yes. This is really a historical defeat. He admitted it, he took responsibility for it. And interestingly, he called upon his supporters to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the second round. And as he was speaking, weve seen a number of conservative politicians also calling for a vote in favor of Emmanuel Macron while National Front officials are calling on more votes for Marine Le Pen, including coming from Francois Francois hollanden camp. So we already see things shifting to really prepare for the second round. I want to ask you, you were hoping that the french would vote the right way just before 8 00. Are you satisfied . Well, lets say that i, im against populism, and so im glad that we dont have two populist members at the top. I think that at the end of the day what im not happy with is this is going to be a default victory. I mean, it is going to take it would have taken in the analysis i made before for Marine Le Pen to get 34 vote on a standalone in the front round in order for her to be a legitimate candidate in the second round. So the way it plays out in the french elections, first round second round, i think it becomes a default victory. Theres only one sensible choice, to use hi term before my term before, maybe appropriate voting. But at the same time, were not voting for somebody we necessarily believe in or know what hes going to do. Is thats where my disappointments in. And were talking a lot saying, no, this is a big shakeup, an earthquake considering the traditional parties arent there. But as we mentioned, macrons the only one pretty much centered, sos has france really voted for more of the same . I think thats the result. I mean, he is the default of hollande, and so i mean, of course, he has a slightly different policy, expect were not really sure what that policy or program is. So well have to see how that goes. You know, maybe at some level what we have is that hes not part of the institution in that hes obviously a newer candidate within that. So hes, hopefully, going to take it as an opportunity to craft, break down some of the oldfashioned molds that weve had. I think its part of the institution, i mean, hes been working for years behind the scenes, and he took the light very well. If you see with hollande and before, this is a holdup. Its all about the branding culture and how it works. We talked in the campaign how Emmanuel Macron was actually sort of the guru, and you going to make it, were going to win. But what is the message, what is the program . So far we had a few bits here and there, but the program came like months before this first round. And people vote because theres something about, well, maybe its new or its not. But if you look at his career, what hes proposing, its hollande, and hollande is very low in the public opinion. So you have to ask, maybe psychology of france people say, what is wrong with you . Why would you vote for a guy who is actually and its fine. I think hollande did something that was okay for five years, but you want change, maybe you shouldnt choose Emmanuel Macron. And for le pen being there, i mean, sad, but its part of the populist movement that we see all over the world in europe. Just for our viewers, just a reminder. The estimate for our partner, ipsos puts Emmanuel Macron 27. 3 ahead after round one, Marine Le Pen with 21. 7 , so a 2 difference between both candidates. I would just like to add that some other polling institutes put them tied at 23 . That doesnt change the fact that they both qualify for round two, but i justin want to add this as an element just want to add this as an element of information. That being said, Marine Le Pen was certainly hoping for more. Yes, she was hoping for more. I would like to just come back to a point that minter and alexis made, is that i am more positive about or i read the macron victory perhaps in a more positive light than you do. And in a sense, thats not to say that in part youre right, but i think there are other factors involved. I think it is probably unfair to say that macron is hollandes [inaudible] now, you could argue this certain objective ways, but he did resign and annoyed an awful lot of people when he did what he did when he resigned from the government and is so on. And and so on. And i also think that he initially, the initial surge of his popularity was about doing something modern and different and breaking a lot of the molds that were stopping, that created this, what is called in france this blocked society. And i think to a certain extent the fuzziness over his program was that he kind of got, was slightly trapped in a way, that he couldnt really come out with a program because he was standing on a tight rope that he wanted to he was neither left, nor right. It was both left and right and tried to develop a program that didnt see him tilt too far in one derek or the other. And one direction or the other. And to a certain extent, its true there have been a set of ambivalent lendses about what his program is. Now he has to come out with a program. But the question is that he was held in a sense