VZCZCXRO6880
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #1791 1261831
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061831Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6958
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS PARIS 001791 

SIPDIS 

SIPDIS 

DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/WE, DRL/IL, INR/EUC, EUR/ERA, EUR/PPD, 
AND EB 
DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR ITA 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB EU FR PINR SOCI ECON
SUBJECT: IT'S PRESIDENT SARKOZY -- IN A CLEAR-CUT VICTORY 
OVER SEGOLENE ROYAL 

REF: A. (A) PARIS 1784 AND PREVIOUS 
¶B. (B) EMBASSY PARIS DAILY SIPRNET REPORT FOR MAY 4 
¶C. 2007 AND PREVIOUS 

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 

SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) Nicolas Sarkozy has won France's presidency by a 
clear cut, 53 percent majority. Official results -- 53 
percent of the vote for Sarkozy and 47 percent for Socialist 
Segolene Royal -- were announced by France's Interior 
Ministry 8 P.M. Paris time on Sunday May 6. President Bush 
called president-elect Sarkozy at 8:05 P.M. Paris time to 
congratulate him. A record turn-out of 85 percent of 
registered voters confirms the intense interest this election 
has generated among the French, just as Sarkozy's convincing 
victory confirms their collective decision to endorse the 
market-oriented reform platform that he ran on. END SUMMARY 

A CLEAR-CUT, CONVINCING VICTORY 
------------------------------- 
¶2. Former Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's second-round 
win over Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal in France's 
2007 presidential election is, by any measure, a clear-cut, 
convincing victory. Official, if preliminary, results 
announced by France's Interior Ministry at 8 P.M. Paris time 
on Sunday May 6 show that Sarkozy got 53 percent of the 38 
million votes cast and Royal got 47 percent. Final, official 
vote tallies will be posted as they come in on the French 
Interior Ministry's website at http://www.interieur.gouv.fr. 
The participation rate in this election is the highest for a 
second-round presidential contest in France since the 
election of 1981. Of France's 44.5 million registered 
voters, 85.5 percent cast ballots on May 6 for either Sarkozy 
or Royal, or cast null ballots. 

THAT GIVES SARKOZY A MANDATE 
---------------------------- 
¶3. (U) In electing -- by a clear-cut majority -- the 
activist, mold-breaking Sarkozy the French have clearly 
endorsed the largely market-oriented reform agenda that 
Sarkozy ran on. They have also given him a vote of 
confidence, betting that he will grow in office -- and that 
his unsettling, often divisive, personality traits that put 
off so many will be attenuated by the responsibilities of 
office. 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 
----------------- 
¶4. (U) Sarkozy has said that he expects to be inaugurated 
shortly before the end of President Chirac's term, probably 
on Wednesday May 16 (Chirac's five-year term ends at midnight 
on the 16). Sarkozy and Chirac might agree to transfer power 
earlier, possibly as early as May 14. In the interim, 
between his election and inauguration, Sarkozy has promised 
that, accompanied by a small group of advisors, he will take 
some days off to "reflect on the heavy responsibilities 
ahead." Something more than speculation about who will head 
the Sarkozy administration's first government should emerge 
from this "retreat" led by the president-elect. Sarkozy has 
promised that he will try to achieve gender parity in his 
administration's first cabinet. Former Education Minister 
Francois Fillon and current Minister of Social Solidarity 
Jean-Louis Borloo are generally viewed as the two leading 
candidates for the prime minister's slot. In coming days 
president-elect Sarkozy's statements should confirm how, and 
how quickly, he plans to proceed with his reform agenda, and 
we will report accordingly. 

Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 

STAPLETON