Mr Hollande, a 57-year-old former Socialist party leader who has never held ministerial office, took 51.7 per cent of the vote, according to official projections, a closer margin than had been predicted over the past month.
But Mr Sarkozy, the eighth leader of a eurozone country to be replaced or swept from office in little over a year, quickly conceded defeat. “France has a new president of the republic. It is a democratic, republican choice.”
He said he had called Mr Hollande to wish him good luck. “It will be difficult [for him] but I wish with all my heart that France will succeed in overcoming its challenges.”
Mr Hollande will become the first socialist to occupy the Elysée Palace for 17 years. Thousands of his cheering supporters flooded onto the streets around the Bastille in Paris to celebrate.
Mr Hollande said in a televised address to his supporters: “Before you, I commit to serving my country ... I am proud to be able to restore hope [to the country].” He said he saluted Mr Sarkozy for his efforts in office.
Harlem Désir, deputy party leader, said: “Tonight France has shown its best face to the world, one of openness, strength and confidence in its future.”
Mr Sarkozy led France for a turbulent five years, energetically pushing through some overdue economic reforms but alienating many of his compatriots with what they saw as an impetuous and divisive approach to government. He is only the second French president of modern times to fail to win re-election.
Mr Hollande campaigned on promises of higher taxes on business and top earners, subsidies for companies taking on younger and older workers, a partial reversal of the rise in the retirement age to 62, and a balanced budget by 2017.
The socialist has also urged Europe to do more to promote growth alongside its austerity drive. He has vowed not to ratify the EU’s new fiscal discipline treaty unless new growth-promoting measures are added, putting him on a potential collision course with Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. Mr Hollande was due to speak to Ms Merkel within hours of the polls closing.
Striking a deal with Berlin over the new treaty will be one of many challenges in a tough first six weeks for the president-elect.
He must also name a prime minister, form his presidential staff, smooth down France’s allies at a Nato summit in Chicago over plans to withdraw French combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, and secure a majority in parliamentary elections on June 10 and 17.
Mr Hollande’s win ends a long and painful wait for the Socialist party which last saw a presidential victory in 1988 when François Mitterrand won a second term in office. It will also help to erase the bitter memories of 2002 when the centre-left was eliminated in first round by a resurgent far-right National Front.
Mr Sarkozy’s defeat, meanwhile, is likely to trigger bitter recriminations within the centre-right UMP party over his campaign strategy of courting far-right voters with an increasingly tough line on immigration and Europe.
Mr Hollande and Mr Sarkozy fought a long and occasionally bad-tempered campaign, which was marked by a resurgence of the far-left and far-right, which both espoused strongly eurosceptic, anti-market and anti-globalisation views. A first round score of 17.9 per cent by Marine Le Pen, the National Front candidate, stunned the political class.
Turnout in Sunday’s run-off was expected to be slightly higher than the 79.5 per cent during the first round vote on April 22, when Mr Hollande came top.
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