Sarkozy to be next French president
By Honor Mahony
The centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected the next president of France following a day of voting that saw the highest turnout in decades and riot police in place in case there of civil unrest.
With the polls having closed at 8pm CET on Sunday Mr Sarkozy has received 53.06 percent of the vote in comparison to the 46.94 percent received by his left wing challenger Segolene Royal, according to French daily Le Monde.
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The turnout is once again extremely high (around 85.5%) following the trend of the first round two weeks ago which saw 85% vote, the most for 40 years.
His win confirms the polls over the last months which nearly always showed him having a consistent and clear lead over Ms Royal.
But his candidacy proved controversial with commentators on the elections often remarking that those voting for Ms Royal were often united by an 'anything-but-Sarko' (as his nickname goes) vote rather than being actively in favour of the socialist candidate.
With his tough talk on immigration, and an appeal to protectionism and nationalism, he picked up a large percentage (66% according to TNS-Sofres) of the voters for Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-fight leader who came fourth in the first round on 22 April.
The likelihood that he would get the most votes on Sunday also prompted the authorities to station thousands of riot police in the capital Paris.
Police have been warned that there may be some violence with gangs of youths from the suburbs possibly coming to confront Sarkozy supporters in the centre.
While he was interior minister, Mr Sarkozy in 2005 famously referred to the local youths in the suburb as racaille or scum - comments that were blamed for fuelling riots in Paris that rapidly spread to other cities.
The son of a Hungarian immigrant, Mr Sarkozy has presented himself a can-do politician able to reform France's lagging economic performance with a programme that would cut taxes, cut back the public service and offers tax breaks for working over time.
Often portrayed as being aggressive and using intemperate language, he nevertheless appeared to offer a more convincing and coherent overall vision for voters.
For her part, Ms Royal, who would have been France's first woman president, had started off the year as the favourite but a series of foreign policy gaffes plus a 100-point presidential programme that lacked a clear message saw her lose support among the public.
A TV debate on Wednesday (2 May) between the two was Ms Royal's last chance to catch up with Mr Sarkozy.
Aware of her image among the public she gave a feisty performance, going on the offensive almost immediately.
Although neither candidate delivered the killer rhetorical blow during the debate, Mr Sarkozy came off better by appearing to be more precise and more in control.
Mr Sarkozy will replace centre right president Jacques Chirac who has been in power for the last 12 years.
From beyond France, other EU countries will be keenly watching to see what he is prepared to bring to the upcoming negotiations on a new treaty for the European Union while another point of interest will be how he seeks to mend Paris' relations with Washington which hit the doldrums in the run up to the Iraq war.