Hug me Mr. Rogers !
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was elected Sunday to a five-year term as France's president with 53 percent of the vote, projections for France's state-run network France 2 said.
Sarkozy addressed cheering supporters, telling them that his election was the "greatest honor possible."
Socialist Segolene Royal, a 53-year-old mother of four, conceded defeat in a speech to supporters moments after the polls closed at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).
"Keep the faith, keep intact your enthusiasm," she said at her party's headquarters. "I will keep on fighting the fight that we have started today.
"Universal suffrage has spoken. I wish the next president of the Republic the best in accomplishing his mission in the service of all the French people."
Turnout was predicted at about 85 percent, the highest since 1981.
Thousands of rightwing voters burst into applause and wild cheering after Sarkozy's victory was announced at the concert hall where he was due to make a speech, according to French media reports.
But across the city at Socialist campaign headquarters there was gloom and sorrow as the party crashed to its third consecutive presidential election defeat.
The party now faces the prospect of tough internal reform to make itself more appealing to voters.
The 52-year-old former interior minister and Royal were in a run-off after emerging as the top candidates from the first round of voting on April 22.
Sarkozy will replace Jacques Chirac, a conservative who has been France's president since 1995. His election makes him the first French president born after World War II.
Sarkozy, the son of Hungarian immigrants, voted in the affluent Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine where he lives, while Royal cast her vote in the western Poitou Charentes region, where she is regional president.
The campaign has been dominated by a debate over how to improve economic growth and reduce unemployment among the young, but its most explosive moments focused on immigration.
Appealing to right-wing voters, Sarkozy said France could not provide "a home for all the world's miseries."
On Friday, Royal said a Sarkozy presidency could trigger violence and brutalities in suburbs with high immigrant populations, prompting Sarkozy to condemn her "threatening comments."
CNN correspondent Hala Gorani reported extra security in some areas around Paris where police have previously clashed with youths of North African origin.
There are no official figures on the number of North African immigrants and their French-born descendants in France. Unofficially, the number is estimated at between 3 and 6 million.

