Sarkozy, rightists triumph in France
Socialist loses bid to be first woman president
PARIS -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France yesterday , promising a new generation of leadership to transform the country, restore its self-respect, and reinvigorate ties with the United States and Europe.
Sarkozy, a member of the ruling party and France's former top law enforcement officer, defeated Socialist Ségolène Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first female head of state, by a 53 to 47 percent vote, according to partial official returns.
In a victory speech before a jubilant crowd of supporters in Paris, Sarkozy said voters "have chosen to break with the habits and behavior of the past." He pledged "to give greater value to work, to authority, to respect, to merit."
"I want to give French people back the pride of being French -- to finish with repentance, which is a form of self-hate," he said, renouncing a pervasive national malaise fed by economic decline at home and sinking influence abroad.
An unabashed admirer of America, Sarkozy, 52, had a special message for the United States, which has had troubled relations with France under President Jacques Chirac, who led international opposition to the US war in Iraq.
"I'd like to appeal to our American friends to say that they can count on our friendship," he said. "But I would also like to say that friendship means accepting that your friends don't necessarily see eye to eye with you." In particular, he said, "a great nation like the United States has the duty not to oppose the fight against global warming, but to lead that battle, because what is at stake is the destiny of mankind." Sarkozy said he would make the issue a top international priority as president.
The election of Sarkozy signals a shift to the right in French politics and could herald a major transition for French society. He has promised to boost economic growth and employment by cutting taxes, reducing deficits, shrinking government, and loosening labor laws -- the kind of free-market policies embraced by the United States and Britain, but long eschewed by French leaders.
In selecting the passionate, pragmatic, and pugnacious Sarkozy, who is an attorney by training, voters rejected Royal's prescription of continuing big-spending programs to protect and expand France's vast social welfare state.
"I wish the next president of the republic the best in accomplishing his mission in the service of all the French people," Royal, 53, said in a brief concession speech delivered to supporters just minutes after voting places closed and exit polls made clear how badly she had fared.
She acknowledged disarray in the Socialist party, which some analysts say is now in danger of splitting or disintegrating: "You can count on me to continue renovating the left . . . . That is the precondition for us having a future."
Sarkozy, who will take office May 16, has promised tough law-and-order measures and tighter immigration controls that many opponents fear could alienate the country's underclasses and fuel social tensions. Polls throughout the election showed large numbers of voters were concerned that Sarkozy has an authoritarian streak that could fracture French society.
In the fall of 2005, his public reference to rioters in immigrant-heavy Paris suburbs as "scum" was widely blamed for fanning the country's worst violence in nearly four decades.
Scattered violence was reported in many parts of France soon after the election results were announced, according to the French news media. At the Place Bastille in central Paris, where about 5,000 anti-Sarkozy protesters gathered, police fired teargas grenades into a group of 100 to 300 masked demonstrators who threw stones and other projectiles at them, the reports said.
In his victory speech, Sarkozy reached out to citizens who didn't vote for him and may not trust him. "I will be the president of all the French," he said. "This is not a victory of one France against another."
A member of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, Sarkozy now faces monumental challenges to implement his proposals and unify the country. The campaign pledges of many reform-minded politicians, including out going president Chirac, have been blocked by France's powerful labor unions and student movement, which can organize debilitating strikes that drag on for months.
The choice between Sarkozy and Royal was a classic duel between the right and left that has defined French politics for decades. Both candidates appealed to a yearning in France for younger leadership and a more modern style after 12 lackluster years under Chirac, 74.
New-voter registration was up by 4.2 percent, or 1.8 million voters, in the last year alone, and French voters engaged in political debates in cafes, parks, and around the dinner table with an enthusiasm not seen in decades.
The campaign, which ended yesterday with a whopping 85 percent voter turnout, electrified France. The candidates' youthful vigor, calls for change, embrace of the Internet, and more open, American-style stumping revitalized the country's politics.
Royal enjoyed early spurts of public popularity -- partially because of the novelty of being the first woman to have a serious shot at the French presidency. Her popularity slipped as she committed a series of gaffes on foreign policy issues and held off on offering specific program proposals until late in the campaign. Polls showed many voters questioned her competency.
In the two weeks since the first round of voting, Royal failed to revitalize her campaign. She was widely perceived to have lost a crucial televised debate against Sarkozy last Wednesday; after it she launched into ruthless broadsides, calling Sarkozy "a dangerous choice" whose election would risk "violence and brutality" across the country.
Sarkozy's main campaign thrust was to loosen labor regulations and put France back to work -- a fundamental shift in France's Socialist culture of egalitarianism, where state guarantees of short workweeks, long vacations, and a comfortable lifestyle are sacrosanct, and ambitious, American-style work ethics are dismissed as greedy and undesirable. At the same time, he favors affirmative action programs to help put low-income people to work.
Sarkozy argues that hard work, a willingness to take risks, and looser labor laws can help pull France out of its economic doldrums and make it competitive in global markets.
"With Sarkozy, people have great hopes for the future," said Christiane Keler, a 39-year-old medical assistant who said she voted for him yesterday . "He's not perfect. He's too direct sometimes, a little extreme when he speaks, but I'm convinced he wants to reform our country." 