France's president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy last night sought to dispel his image as a divisive leader, saying: "I shall be the president of all French people."
Mr Sarkozy spoke half an hour after the results of the election were announced at 8pm. He won 53 per cent of the vote to 47 per cent for the socialist challenger Ségolène Royal.
Mr Sarkozy told supporters they must respect the defeated candidate because "respecting Madame Royal means respecting the millions of French people who voted for her. "This evening is not the victory of one France against another," Mr Sarkozy continued. "There is for me only one victory tonight, that of democracy, of the values that unite us, of the ideal that brings us together.
Addressing himself to "our European partners, to whom our fate is closely tied," Mr Sarkozy said he believed "deeply, sincerely" in European integration. "Tonight, France is back in Europe," he announced to loud cheers.
But he beseeched other Europeans "to not remain deaf to the anger of peoples who see the EU not as a protection but as the Trojan horse of all the threats posed by the transformation of the world."
Mr Sarkozy has said he will travel to Brussels and Berlin during the first week of his five-year term, which will begin in 10 days, to promote a "mini-treaty" retaining the institutional reforms of the constitutional treaty that France rejected two years ago. He will ask the French parliament to ratify the shortened text, rather than risk another referendum.
Ms Royal conceded defeat minutes after the results were announced. The strange role reversal that started with their debate last Wednesday continued. Ms Royal beamed as if she were the victor; Mr Sarkozy barely smiled, and spoke with immense solemnity.
"Universal suffrage has spoken," Ms Royal said. "I wish for the next president of the republic to accomplish his mission in the service of all French people." Ms Royal implied she would continue to try to reform the socialist party and establish an alliance with Francois Bayrou's centrists for upcoming legislative elections: "You can count on me to pursue the renovation of the left and seek further convergence beyond present borders," she said.
"That is the condition of our future victories." By winning by a wider margin than Francois Mitterrand in 1981, or Jacques Chirac in 1995, Mr Sarkozy can claim a clear mandate for the reforms he intends to begin this summer.
The transfer of power will take place on May 16th. Mr Sarkozy then needs to win a majority in legislative elections on June 10th and 17th.
The Taoiseach Mr Ahern said he looked forward to continuing to develop the very warm relationship between Ireland and France, and to working with President Sarkozy.