Hollande defeats Sarkozy in French election

Last Updated 10:27 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) PARIS - Socialist Fran?ois Hollande defeated conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to become France's next president, heralding a change in how Europe tackles its debt crisis and how France flexes its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.

Sarkozy conceded defeat minutes after the polls closed, saying he had called Hollande to wish him "good luck" as the country's new leader.

Exuberant crowds filled the Place de la Bastille, the iconic plaza of the French Revolution, to celebrate Hollande's victory. He will be France's first leftist chief of state since Fran?ois Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports Hollande had campaigned on a platform of reversing the cost-cutting austerity measures that France and the rest of Europe have adopted. In his victory speech, he said he'd keep his promises.

"The first duty of the president of the Republic is to bring together and link all citizens to communal action so as to face up to the challenges awaiting us, and there are many and they are heavy: First of all, to increase production in order to get the country out of the crisis, reducing our deficit in order to control debt, the preservation of our social model to ensure to all the same, equal access to public services," Hollande said.

Hollande also extended a gracious greeting to the Sarkozy after an occassionally vicious campaign.

"I give a Republican salute to Nicolas Sarkozy who has led France for 5 years and who deserves all of our respect," Hollande said.

Sarkozy thanked his supporters and said he did his best to win a second term, despite widespread anger at his handling of the economy.

"I take responsibility ... for the defeat," he said.

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Hollande's former partner and mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, said she has a "feeling of profound joy to see millions and millions of French renew the tie to the left."

"The French can be confident," she said on France-2 television. "We will need everyone to help the country recover." Royal faced off against Sarkozy in the 2007 election.

Socialist Party supporters celebrate at Place de la Bastille in Paris on May 6, 2012, after the announcement of the first official results of the French presidential final round.

/ FRANCK FIFE/AFP/GettyImages

Partial official results, with about half of the nationwide votes counted, showed Hollande with 50.8 percent compared to 49.2 percent for Sarkozy. The CSA, TNS-Sofres and Ipsos polling agencies predicted that Hollande will win with 51.8 percent to 53 percent, compared with 47 percent to 48.2 percent for Sarkozy. They made projections based on the vote count at select voting stations around the country.

Hollande wants to renegotiate a hard-won European treaty on budget cuts that Germany's Angela Merkel and Sarkozy had championed. He wants more government stimulus, and more government spending in general despite concerns from markets that France needs to urgently trim its huge debts.

The election outcome could also have an impact on how long French troops stay in Afghanistan and how France exercises its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "We are witnessing the collapse of the Euro currency and probably the collapse of the Euro Zone. The zone is 221 TRILLION dollars in DEBT"



Absolute nonsense, and just more of the fox/rush lies and deceptions you continually post -- completely divorced from reality!

The economy of the European Union generates a GDP of over 12.629 trillion Euros (US$17.578 trillion in 2011) according to the International Monetary Fund, making it the largest economy in the world, with Germany the #2 exporter in the world ahead of the U.S., and France as the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

The TRUTH will always defeat your conservitard lies and deceptions!

[jayrh]

Your response shows an absolute ignorance of history. Central planning and socialistic principles seldom, if ever, create economic prosperity...

Perhaps you overlook the fact that the EU and France enjoy "free trade". One of the basic tenets of supply side economics?

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "The French have tried to live like the Germans, but they are not productive."



Clearly, your lies and deceptions are in complete opposition to the fact that France is the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

For those conservatives pushing austerity as a solution to the nation's economic woes, economic growth being slowed considerably by spending cuts should come as a bit of a warning, as should the fact that the United Kingdom's austerity program has led it's economy to do worse than it did during the Great Depression.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "France doesn't produce anything anymore. They have nothing to sell to anyone."



The fox/rush parrots never let the facts get in the way of a good story built around lies and deceptions, in their world divorced from reality!

France has long been part of the world's wealthiest and most developed national economies. France is the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

GO FISH, bubba!

[smittyc]

Sarkozy defeat has hope and change visibly shaken. He has lost his best buddy.

[occupy_cbs]

Yep, conservitard sarkozy lost his best buddy, george w. bush:

In his first year in office, Sarkozy's team rammed through changes like a cap on income taxes for the cut for the wealthiest, seen by critics as a sop to his uber-rich friends that backed his candidacy and were in his inner circle from his years as mayor of the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

[smittyc]

We are witnessing the collapse of the Euro currency and probably the collapse of the Euro Zone. Greece has changed horses as well, so has Italy and now France. The reason is the money. The zone is 221 TRILLION dollars in DEBT and the bondholders have fled. The zero percent interest rates have failed. The world is awash in worthless currency based on nations with no Gross domestic product. Governments have spent the next 50 years of projected income leaving the masses with no means to provide food clothing shelter and medical for themselves.

[fedup12]

Hey... I was wondering.... Do you see the Republican party as being part of the problem leading up to this point?

Could the Republicans be worse than Democrats in leading up to our current problems. They cut income and spend like drunken liberals. Democrats raise taxes and spend like drunken liberals.

Really the Republican party up till now are only good for social conservative issues. They would have women in Burkas if we let them get away with it.

Thats why I kind of like a real conservative along the lines of Ron Paul.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "We are witnessing the collapse of the Euro currency and probably the collapse of the Euro Zone. The zone is 221 TRILLION dollars in DEBT"



Absolute nonsense, and just more of the fox/rush lies and deceptions you continually post -- completely divorced from reality!

The economy of the European Union generates a GDP of over 12.629 trillion Euros (US$17.578 trillion in 2011) according to the International Monetary Fund, making it the largest economy in the world, with Germany the #2 exporter in the world ahead of the U.S., and France as the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

The TRUTH will always defeat your conservitard lies and deceptions!

[occupy_cbs]

pr_boxer: "Sarkozy did to France what Bush did to the USA, therefore he got beat."



Pretty much.....and the austerity of what romney/ryan propose, since spending cuts reduce economic growth, and more tax cuts to the wealthy only decrease revenue and grow deficits.

[smittyc]

France doesn't produce anything anymore. The French people have become like the French government. They have nothing to sell to anyone. Pretty much the same with Greece and Italy is marginally productive. There electorates do not want to hear there is no more money and they have to face austerity.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "France doesn't produce anything anymore."



Typical fox/rush parrot, playing loose with the facts as usual.

France is the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

Last year, France's exports totaled $456.8 billion including machinery, transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron, steel, and beverages like wine.

Maybe our resident fox/rush parrots conveniently forget French companies rank as leading firms in each and every major strategical economic sector, like Air France, L'Oreal, GDF-Suez, Areva, Michelin, Lafarge, Sanofi Aventis, Renault-Nissan, and Pernod Ricard -- one of the world's biggest producer of distilled beverages (owning the former Seagram distilleries) -- just to name a few!

[occupy_cbs]

Conservitard Sarkozy faced voters' anger over austerity, much like what romney/ryan want to bring to the U.S., since Socialist Hollande has promised more government spending and higher taxes -- including a 75-percent income tax on the rich -- and wants to re-negotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece.

[smittyc]

Not really. The French have tried to live like the Germans, but they are not productive. In the last 30 years, they have grown welfare to 20% with immigration from the middle east and africa. Hollande thinks he can borrow his way out of the debt, just like Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland. With all the nations broke in the zone, who are they going to borrow from? They are facing the same situation we are faceing here in the U.S. with the housing sub prime loans and the pending bank/failures disasters due to non payment of 13.9 million mortgages.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "The French have tried to live like the Germans, but they are not productive."



Clearly, your lies and deceptions are in complete opposition to the fact that France is the world's 5th and Europe's 2nd largest national economy by nominal GDP.

For those conservatives pushing austerity as a solution to the nation's economic woes, economic growth being slowed considerably by spending cuts should come as a bit of a warning, as should the fact that the United Kingdom's austerity program has led it's economy to do worse than it did during the Great Depression.

[cbsnews_viewer]

Nicolas Sarkozy is the 11th European leader to fall since the banking crisis broke.

[smittyc]

YOU hit the nail on the head. The banks and the banksters have borrowed the Zone into bankruptcy. The finance ministers have been lying to the public for years. Last fall every single American company that had money invested in Europe that was liquid they pulled out.

[askagain]

If you don't think it is the economy, think again. Another headline on this website states that Sarkozy is at least the ninth European leader pushed out because of the anger ppeople have with the economy and government spending cuts. If the leader is conservative, he is replaced with a liberal. If the leader is a liberal, he is replaced with a conservative. Europeans seem less concerned with whether their government is liberal or conservative but with the economy. It will be interesting to see how the United States goes in the next presidential election.

[occupy_cbs]

smittyc: "Sarkozy gone today...The state of the HOME economy trumps everything come election day."




No, conservitard ideology like the bush republicans was voted out, since Sarkozy's UMP majority prepared a budget that reduced taxes, in particular for wealthy people, allegedly in an effort to boost GDP growth, but did not reduce state expenditures.

He was voted in before the global recession, and his "supply side economic insanity" and revoking of the inheritance tax that formerly brought eight billion euros into state coffers, cut revenue by billions of euros and increased deficits just like the GOP!!

[smittyc]

They can't hide from their debt which is much larger than our U.S. debt which is hamstringing the growth of our economy. They are like the person who can't pay their mortgage on their home. The government coffers are empty, and the globe is refusing to send them goods till they pay. It is like you going to the food store with no money. You can't even get free water, the water fountains have been replaced with bottle water.

[occupy_cbs]

Sorry, but you economic neophytes sure have some nice political rhetoric in order to justify your 'starve the beast' austerity that has already been proven to be nothing but highly-flawed and failed GOP economic policies like supply side economic insanity!

What's truly been slowing economic growth is drastic spending cuts placing a drag on the economy, with economic growth, and employment growth, that would have been significantly stronger over the last two years without government cuts.

For those conservatives pushing austerity as a solution to the nation's economic woes, the current numbers should come as a bit of a warning, as should the fact that the United Kingdom's austerity program has led it's economy to do worse than it did during the Great Depression.