French right-wing presidential candidate of the
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Nicolas Sarkozy is applauded by the
crowd as he arrives to deliver a speech, at the "salle Gaveau" in Paris.
Sarkozy scored an emphatic victory in the French presidential election
Sunday, trouncing Socialist rival Segolene Royal to win a clear mandate
for tough economic and social reforms. (Xinhua Photo/Song
Lidong) Photo Gallery
>>>
PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy
has won the French presidential race by winning 53.7 percent of the vote in
Sunday's run-off with Socialist Segolene Royal, preliminary results show.
He will succeed 74-year-old Jacques Chirac, who has
ruled for 12 years.
"I should be the president of all the French people
and should speak on behalf of all the French," Sarkozy told thousands of
jubilant supporters at the headquarters of his ruling Union of a Popular
Movement.
"This is not the victory of one France over another.
It is the victory of democracy, and of French values," said Sarkozy.
Promising that he wants to give the French people
back "the pride of being French," he said his priority will be to do everything
to ensure that "the French people continue to speak to each other, to understand
each other, and to work together."
"Now is the time for me to give back to France what
France has given me. Together we are going to write a new page of history. The
page, I am sure, will be great and beautiful," he said.
Stressing that the French people "have chosen
changes," he said he will fulfill his mandate along with all the French people
and let every French to have his or her place in the society.
He also turned his eyes on France's European
partners, telling them that "today, France is back in Europe."
"I urged our European partners to hear the voice of
the French people who wish to be protected," he added.
Sarkozy, who is known for his admiration of the
United States, also told U.S. leaders that "you can count on our friendship."
Before Sarkozy delivered his victory speech, Royal
conceded defeat, but vowed to fight on.
French Socialist party (PS) presidential candidate
Segolene Royal speaks to supporters as she leaves the Maison de
l'Amerique Latine, May 6, 2007 in Paris, after the announcement of the
first unofficial results of the French presidential final round.
(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery
>>>
"The universal suffrage has spoken. I hope the next
president of the republic will be able to carry out his duties in the benefits
of all French men and women," she said.
She spoke among cheers of her supporters at the House
of Latin America. Royal smiled all the way through her brief speech.
Royal thanked her supporters and vowed to continue
the leftist course. Something begun cannot be stopped," she said while her
supporters chanted "Segolene, Merci!" (Segolene, Thank you!).
"I put all my strength into what I have done and I
will continue alongside you, together with you."
She vowed to revive the left wing in French politics.
"You can count upon me to continue renovating the left, to continue to find new
points of convergence beyond existing borders and frontiers. This is the
precondition for having a future."
"There are other democratic goals toward which we
must work," she said, obviously in reference to next month's parliamentary
elections.
Francois Bayrou, a centrist politician who came in
the third place in the first round of the presidential race, also set his sight
on the parliamentary elections.
"Power has to be balanced. That is the stake in the
parliamentary election," he said in a speech on Sunday.
"The first duty of democracy is to ensure that every
power has to have the check and balance. Nobody must have power for himself
alone."
The leader of Union for French Democracy party warned
Sarkozy against attempts to gain absolute power.
"I say to Nicolas Sarkozy that concentration of power
is very comfortable, but is an illusion: when absolute power makes a mistake, it
makes an absolute mistake."
He called for reconciliation and promised he would
say yes to the new president's correct proposals. "We can't have a France in
which some people are always for and other people are always against."
But he added that he would set the alarms ringing if
necessary."We shall commit ourselves to being positive and constructive. But we
shall also be vigilant."
Bayrou, who is called the "third man" in the
presidential race, said he would propose a new movement for democracy in the
next few days, without giving details.
Bayrou appealed to Royal and other candidates who
were defeated in the presidential race for participation in the future of
France.
"Democracy is not only for the winners. Those who
have been beaten also have their role to play in the modernization and
re-balancing of France," he said.
"In politics, all political forces -- on the left, on
the right, in the center -- have to move, have to change, have to learn to work
together rather than work against each other."
Bayrou, who won 6.8 million ballots, or 18.6 percent,
in the first round, refused to endorse either Sarkozy or Royal in the second
round, adding uncertainty in the race.
This year's presidential election marks the transfer
of power from Chirac to a new generation of politicians. The high voter turnout,
even among young people, manifested the French people's eagerness for change.
The country is suffering from a crawling economy and high unemployment together with social woes such as malcontent in the suburbs of big cities.
PARIS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Nicolas Sarkozy's Sunday victory in the French presidential run-off has ushered in a new page in French politics as the president-elect has vowed to work along with all the French people to realize all the changes and reforms they are hoping for. Full story
PARIS, May 6, 2007 (Xinhua) -- Some 30,000 supporters of Nicolas Sarkozy gathered in the Concorde square in downtown Paris on Sunday night to celebrate the election of the right-wing politician as France's new president while protestors clashed with police. Full story
PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy
said in his victory speech on Sunday that he was ready to "give everything to
France."
"This evening is a victory for France. There is only one
France. I ask you to be generous, to be tolerant, to be fraternal," Sarkozy told
some 10,000 people in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Full Story
LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony
Blair telephoned Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to congratulate him on his victory in
the French presidential elections.
The conversation, though very short, was very friendly and
warm, and in which Sarkozy thanked Blair for his congratulations, Blair's office
said in London. Full
Story
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W.
Bush telephoned French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy to congratulate him on
his victory in the French presidential election on Sunday, National Security
Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
"President Bush called president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy to
congratulate him on his victory," Johndroe said. Full
story
PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Voter turnout in France's second
round presidential vote was 34.11 percent by mid-day Sunday, the highest in
three decades, according to the Interior Ministry.
Voter turnout in the second round in 2002 was 26.2
percent. Full story
PARIS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Voters in mainland France
went to poll stations across the country on Sunday to choose a new president in
a tight run-off race, which pits right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy against Segolene
Royal, a woman candidate of the left-wing Socialist Party.
The poll booths opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will
close at 8p.m. (1800 GMT), with first unofficial results from exit polls
expected soon afterwards. Full story
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