Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s newly elected president, drew surprise and some criticism yesterday for enjoying a luxurious holiday while Jacques Chirac commemorated the Second World War and youths held violent protests against the incoming administration.

Mr Sarkozy, 52, a right-wing politician who won a clear mandate on Sunday to impose radical reform, had campaigned on the slogan “work more to earn more”. But immediately after his election victory he flew by private jet to relax with his family on the yacht of a billionaire friend off Malta. The monarchical “cloister”, to which Mr Sarkozy had implied he was retreating, turned out to be a posh yacht, one newspaper noted.

While Mr Sarkozy was motoring between Malta and Sicily on the 120ft (35m) Paloma, with 17 crew and a big spa bath, his absence raised eyebrows at home, where police have arrested hundreds of rioters and hundreds of cars have been torched in demonstrations in Paris and other cities.

Some opposition politicians accused Mr Sarkozy of conduct that conflicted with his message of blood, sweat and tears for French revival. “This is very odd,” said Patrick Mennucci, a senior Socialist and campaign aide to Ségolène Royal, the defeated candidate. “It’s giving a sign to the country that is quite incomprehensible in the light of his campaign message,” he said.

François Hollande, leader of the Socialist Party and partner of Ms Royal, said that he had no objections to Mr Sarkozy’s holiday. He also appealed for calm in the streets. “Those who are waging this violence are playing into the hands of those who want more order, who want to be tougher,” he said.

War veterans had expected Mr Sarkozy, who campaigned on the theme of patriotism and hard work, to accompany President Chirac yesterday as he laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe to mark the Nazi surrender in 1945. In the last handover of power, in May 1995, Mr Chirac attended the public holiday event as president-elect alongside President Mitterrand, the outgoing head of state.

Mr Sarkozy’s Mediterranean retreat was his second signal this week that France is breaking with its tradition of staid heads of state and is coming under the command of a new-generation leader with an unabashed taste for glitz. On Sunday’s election night, television cameras waited for an hour for the victorious candidate to emerge from Fouquet’s, a famous restaurant on the Champs Elysées, where he was celebrating with Johnny Hallyday, the venerated French rock musician, and other stars.

Hallyday, a close friend of Mr Sarkozy, announced yesterday that he is to return from tax exile in Switzerland. The new president’s plans for a 50 per cent cap on personal taxes will enable him to enjoy his wealth in his home country.

The new tenant of the Elysée Palace is close to several of France’s richest men. Le Point magazine said this week: “Sarkozy likes money. He does not hide it. For him, it is the sign of social success.”

Mr Mennucci said that he was worried by the new president accepting the loan of the motor yacht, which charters for more than €175,000 (£120,000) a week, from Vincent Bolloré, a Breton industrialist who ranks 451st on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s richest.

The French media exercised their traditional restraint towards an incoming president, but comment on the internet was vitriolic. “Decency would have required that he attend the May 8 ceremony at Chirac’s side, but obviously his cynicism was stronger,” said a commentator on the site of the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. Another said: “This is no surprise. After our banana republic, now we have the republic of glitz, Sarkoland in all its splendour.” There were some suggestions that the president-elect, who is about eight inches shorter than Mr Chirac, may not have been keen to stand alongside the political rival whom he is to succeed.

Mr Sarkozy last week explained the reasons for taking what was supposed to be his secret retreat by saying that he needed time to prepare himself spirtually to assume the heavy burden of state. He said that it would have been wrong to attend the ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe because France could not have two leaders at the same time.

Mr Sarkozy’s lieutenants said that he was in frequent telephone contact as they prepared for government and the start of a hectic bout of reform.

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