France Watch: Nicolas Sarkozy Elected President

President elect Nicolas Sarkozy gives thumbs up after leaving his campaign headquarters in Paris, Sunday May 6, 2007. French voters elected reform-minded Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president on Sunday, giving him a comfortable winning margin, preliminary official results and projections from four polling agencies showed. With more than half of the vote counted, Sarkozy was scoring just over 53 percent to a little more than 46 percent for Socialist Segolene Royal. Polling agencies also had the conservative Sarkozy winning 53 percent of the vote compared to 47 for Royal amid massive turnout of 85 percent.

Sarkozy wins French presidency

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidency by a comfortable margin Sunday and immediately signalled his victory would mean friendly relations with the United States.

His socialist opponent, Segolene Royal, conceded defeat for her hopes of becoming France’s first woman president. With nearly 70 percent of ballots counted, Sarkozy had just over 53 percent of the vote, according to the Interior Ministry.

Washington can “count on our friendship,” Sarkozy told hundreds of cheering supporters, though he added that “friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions.”

President Bush swiftly phoned the new president-elect to offer congratulations.

“The United States and France are historic allies and partners. President Bush looks forward to working with President-elect Sarkozy as we continue our strong alliance,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

Better for France and the United States?

We will see…….

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