France's Macron bills himself the "patriots' candidate" vs Le Pen

Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron called on all "patriots" to rally behind him against the threat of what he called "nationalists," after qualifying on Sunday for the French election's runoff against far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

"I want to be the president of patriots against the threat of nationalists," the 39-year old centrist told a cheering crowd of supporters.

Macron, whose "En Marche!" party is only one year old and has never taken part in any parliamentary election, also said he would as soon as Monday work on building a parliament majority to be able to govern after legislative elections in June.

"In one year, we have changed the face of French politics," Macron said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)