World | Other World Stories
Sarkozy pledges change
Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy triumphed in France's presidential election on Sunday, sweeping aside his Socialist rival Segolene Royal and winning a powerful mandate for reform.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 May 7, 2007
- Nicolas Sarkozy, France's newly-elected President, waves to supporters with his wife Cecilia on the Concorde square in Parison Sunday. Sarkozy defeated Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Paris: Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy triumphed in France's presidential election on Sunday, sweeping aside his Socialist rival Segolene Royal and winning a powerful mandate for reform.
Sarkozy won 53.1 per cent of the ballot against 46.9 per cent for Royal, with voters signing up to his vision of a hardworking
France and turning a deaf ear to leftist accusations he would
prove a divisive, dangerous and abrasive leader.
Sporadic violence flared in a number of French cities after his emphatic victory was flashed on television screens, but a
conciliatory Sarkozy immediately reached out to his beaten foes,promising to be president of the entire nation.
"Those who have been broken, those who have been worn down by life, must know they have not been abandoned, that they will be helped, they will be rescued," he told cheering supporters.
Turnout was almost 84 per cent, the highest since 1988, giving his victory a strong legitimacy and extending the right's
12-year grip on power after two successive terms by president Jacques Chirac, who is retiring.
Mandate for reforms
However, Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, has made clear he wants to be a more pro-active and radical leader than Chirac, promising to loosen rigid labour laws, trim fat from the public service, cut taxes and wage war on unemployment.
"The French people ... have chosen to break with the ideas
and habits of the past. I will thus rehabilitate work, authority, morality, respect, merit," said Sarkozy, a former
interior minister with a hardline reputation.
"It is a clear mandate for reforms. He will have to fine-tune things very skilfully, of course," said Nicolas Sobczak, an economist at Goldman Sachs.
"Like Thatcher in Britain, like Reagan in the United States, Sarkozy will change things," said supporter Thierry Gauvert, 55.
Reaching out to US
The White House said USPresident George W. Bush had called to congratulate Sarkozy, who is largely untested in foreign policy but reached out to the United States in his victory speech, an indication of his desire to break from the trans-Atlantic tension of the Chirac era.
Sarkozy also made it clear that France would remain an
independent voice.
The United States, he declared, can "count on our friendship," but he added that "friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions."
He urged the United States to take the lead on climate
change and said the issue would be a priority for France.
"A great nation, like the United States, has a duty not to block the battle against global warming but - on the contrary - to take the lead in this battle, because the fate of the whole of humanity is at stake," Sarkozy said.
In some European capitals, Sarkozy's victory inspired hope that he might lend a decisive hand to efforts to salvage the European Union's hopes of greater integration, largely on ice since French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU constitution in 2005.
In contrast, Royal's programme seemed more in line with the policies pursued under the outgoing Jacques Chirac - who is from Sarkozy's own party, the Union for a Popular Movement.
Chirac, 74, held the presidency for 12 years but failed repeatedly to push through reforms.
Five-year term
The French president is elected for five years, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, nominates the prime minister and is responsible for foreign and defence policies.
He will take power on May 16, becoming the first French head of state to be born after World War Two.
He will then name a government and start campaigning for
June's parliamentary election. Most analysts expect his UMP
party to retain its majority, giving Sarkozy a good chance of
pushing through his economic and social reform programme.
Share this article
Related Articles
-
Sarkozy triumphs
Sarkozy triumphs
-
First 100 days for Sarkozy
First 100 days for Sarkozy
-
Sporadic violence follows Sarkozy win
Sporadic violence follows Sarkozy win
-
Expats line up to support right-wing candidate
Expats line up to support right-wing candidate
-
French presidential run-off voting on
France votes in presidential run-off ballot
-
Sarkozy slams Royal over 'riot' warning
Sarkozy slams Royal over 'riot' warning
News Editor's choice
-
Mohammad launches H1N1 campaign
Shaikh Mohammad was the first one to receive the H1N1 vaccine.
-
Focus on best methods of crime investigation
International conference to also focus on anti-corruption measures
-
Muslims happy to live in the US
Warm welcome awaits visitors of any nationality despite political differences
