Nicolas Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, has won the French presidency with a solid majority that he described tonight as a mandate for a moral renaissance and radical reform of the over-regulated welfare state.

Thousands celebrated late into the night in the Place de la Concorde after the 52-year-old leader of President Chirac’s Union for a Popular Movement defeated Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, with 53 percent of the vote. The turnout after their bitter fortnight’s duel since the first round was a near-record 85 percent.

“Together we are going to write a new page of history,” the pugnacious former Interior Minister told cheering supporters. “The page, I am sure, will be great and it will be beautiful.” Ms Royal accepted defeat with a smile, telling supporters that she had nevertheless relaunched the left.

“Something has risen which will not stop. Let us keep in tact the energy and joy... of this campaign,” she said. Her Socialist colleagues were, however bitter over the third presidential defeat of their party in succession.

“The flag of the Left lies on the ground,” said Laurent Fabius, one of the most senior Socialists.

Mr Sarkozy delivered a lyrical victory speech, voicing his love for “this great and beautiful nation which has given me everything”. He promised to be “the president of all the French” and fulfill his promise of immediate radical reform.

“The French have chosen to break with the ideas, habits and behaviour of the past,” he said. “I will restore the value of work, authority, merit and respect for the nation.”

He would also rid France of its habit of “repenting” for its past historical sins. “This repentance is a form of self-hatred,” he said.

Mr Sarkozy offered friendship to the United States, but urged Washington to act urgently on climate change. He also warned fellow European leaders that he expected them to join him in making the Union more protective.

“It must not be the Trojan horse for globalisation’s ills,” he said.

By choosing Mr Sarkozy, France turned a deaf ear to the warnings of Ms Royal and much of the left that his muscular plans for restoring the work ethic, cutting welfare and fighting crime would lead to violence and even insurrection.

Police were out in force in Paris and in immigrant districts on all the big city outskirts in case of violence by youths who see Mr Sarkozy, the Interior Minister for most of the past five years, as their enemy.

Accepting her defeat, Ms Royal told cheering supporters on the Boulevard Saint Germain: “I understand your disappointment, but I tell you, something has arisen which will not stop.”

Smiling as some supporters wept, she added: “I undertook a profound reform of the political world and of the left. The high turnout rate showed the revival of political life in France. “

Mr Sarkozy’s victory, the first since 1969 by a candidate from the outgoing President’s party, marks a change of generation after 12 years under President Chirac, 74, although he is not the youngest to be elected to the monarchical presidency of the Fifth Republic. His triumph followed a campaign in which all candidates offered paths for ending the relative economic decline and moral malaise that has afflicted France over over 15 years.

Mr Sarkozy, fiercely ambitious and hyper-energetic, had promised by the most radical -- and un-French -- recipe for restoring the country’s pride and wealth. “Work more to earn more” was the simple slogan that he used to convince the country that its renaissance lies with individual effort rather than reliance on the “social solidarity” which has created the world’s shortest official working week and one of Europe’s highest unemployment rates.

The defeat of Ms Royal, who was the favourite until Mr Sarkozy launched his campaign in January, is expected to lead to blood-letting in the Socialist party after general elections for a new Parliament in six weeks. Ms Royal, whose partner Francois Hollande is the party leader, was never fully supported by Socialist elders who objected to her single-handed attempt to modernise the left during her campaign.

In next month’s elections, voters are expected to return a parliament dominated by the UMP, the former Gaullist movement, which Mr Sarkozy took over in 2004 and jettisoned the semi-socialist doctrines that had been applied by Mr Chirac.

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