Emmanuel Macron

At age 39, Emmanuel Macron became the youngest president in the history of France, dramatically reshaping the country's politics in the process. Macron served in Francois Hollande's government and later became the Minister of Economy. However, he resigned in 2016 and announced he would run for the presidency, thereupon founding a new centrist political movement called En Marche! As support for France's major political parties collapsed, Macron's outsider status became his greatest asset. As he emerged as the only remaining obstacle to the rise of Marine Le Pen and the far right, he managed to galvanise what remained of the establishment before sweeping to what had once seemed an impossible victory on May 17, 2017.