Sarkozy Wins, Vows to Restore Pride in France

By John Ward Anderson and Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 7, 2007

PARIS, May 6 -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, 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 Segolene Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first elected female head of state, by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote, according to final results. Voter turnout was a near-record 84 percent.

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 U.S. 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.

His election signals a shift to the right in French politics and could herald a major transition for French society. Sarkozy 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 a lawyer 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," she said. "That is the precondition for us having a future."

Sarkozy, who takes 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. Opinion polls throughout the election showed that large numbers of voters were concerned that Sarkozy had an authoritarian streak that could fracture French society.

In the fall of 2005, his public reference to rioters in Paris's immigrant-heavy suburbs as "scum" was widely faulted 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 French news media. At the Place Bastille in central Paris, where about 5,000 anti-Sarkozy protesters gathered, police fired tear-gas grenades into a group of up to 300 masked demonstrators who threw stones and other projectiles at them, the reports said.

Police also reportedly clashed with a crowd of 2,500 protesters in the southern city of Toulouse; 2,000 anti-Sarkozy demonstrators in Lyon and several hundred protesters in the towns of Rennes, Nantes and Brest, according to local news media.

In his victory speech, Sarkozy reached out to citizens who didn't vote for him and might 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 will face monumental challenges to implement his proposals and unify the country. The campaign pledges of many reform-minded politicians, including outgoing 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 the classic kind of right-left duel 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.

Registration of new voters was up by 4.2 percent (1.8 million voters) in the last year alone, and French voters engaged in political debates in cafes and parks, and around dinner tables, with an enthusiasm not seen in decades.

The campaign electrified France. The candidates' youthful vigor, calls for change, embrace of the Internet and more open, American-style stumping revitalized the country's politics.

Sarkozy, elected to a five-year term, will be the first French president born after World War II.

Twelve candidates participated in a first round of voting on April 22 that eliminated all but Sarkozy and Royal. But those two had dominated the race from the start. Both were considered mavericks within their parties, but Royal was repeatedly undercut by the Socialist old guard, known as the "elephants."

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. But her popularity slipped in recent months 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 that many voters questioned her competence.

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; afterward, 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, in which state guarantees of short workweeks, long vacations and a comfortable lifestyle have been sacrosanct, while ambitious, American-style work ethics were dismissed as greedy and undesirable. At the same time, Sarkozy favors affirmative action programs to help put low-income people to work.

"I trust Sarkozy to dare to do what's never been done in France in the past," said Raymonde Michel, 60, a retired bank employee, who said she voted for Sarkozy on Sunday at a voting station in a central Paris high school. "Sarkozy will face lots of demonstrations after he starts implementing his reforms, but . . . he won't be scared by demonstrations."

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. He said he will work to cut taxes and government spending, shrink government subsidies and reduce the power of labor unions.

"With Sarkozy, people have great hopes for the future," said Christiane Keler, a 39-year-old medical assistant who said she voted for him on Sunday. "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."

Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.