According to France’s Interior Ministry Hollande took around 51.7% of the runoff vote to Nicolas Sarkozy’s 48.3%, with turnout at 81%, france 24 reported.

“We are not a France divided, we are one single France, all united in the same destiny,” he told his supporters, according to france 24.

Celebrations were held at the iconic Place de la Bastille in central Paris, the same place where the last Socialist to win a presidential election, François Mitterrand, celebrated his victory back in 1981.

Hollande, who led in the polls throughout the campaign, won the April 22 first round with 28.6 per cent to 27.2 per cent for Sarkozy – making the right-winger the first-ever incumbent to lose in the first round.

The country’s 46 million eligible voters voted at polling stations from 06:00 GMT on Sunday, after a  campaign that had seen both Sarkozy and Hollande label the other  a liar.

According to a survey by Ipsos polling institute, half of Hollande’s voters said their main reason for voting for the Hollande was to unseat Sarkozy.

Hollande will be sworn in as France’s president on May 14 or 15.

The document, Mediapart reports, was given to it by former high officials from Libya a few days ago and offered solid evidence of “illegal campaign financing” allegations.

Sarkozy  denied accusations when first questioned by French journalists in March. Sarkozy’s campaign spokesperson Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet dismissed the latest report as “ridiculous” and a “clumsy diversion” staged by supporters of Francois Hollande, his Socialist opponent in the upcoming presidential election.

France has austere campaign financing laws, banning politicians from taking funding from foreign states.

The document dated December 10, 2006, written in Arabic, was signed by Gaddafi’s intelligence chief Moussa Koussa, in which he authorizes the Chief of Staff of Gaddafi, Saleh Bashir, to undertake secret payments.

The document also refers to a meeting that allegedly took place on June 6, 2006, between Brice Hortefeux, Sarkozy’s close ally, and Ziad Takieddine, a Franco-Lebanese businessman who has been at the centre of a number of political scandals linked to Sarkozy and his inner circle, Aljazeera reported.

“The investigation will be difficult because many of those present were killed during the war in Libya, but it’s still important that this document should be made public,” Mediapart said citing Takieddine.

Sarkozy will be seeking re-election on May 6, going up against the Socialist candidate Francois Holland

Mr. Hollande said that he wants to lighten the burden on Greeks, pointing out that Greece should “regain a level of development”, Protothema writes.

At the same time, he said that if elected next month he would set forth his ideas for improving economic growth in Europe in a letter to European Union leaders the next day.

Hollande, calls to renegotiate an EU fiscal in order to include methods to boost growth if he beats conservative  Nicolas Sarkozy in a May 6 election runoff as polls predict.

His letter would include four points: The creation of eurobonds to finance investment and industry projects, freeing up investment funds, a financial transaction tax and deploying unused structural investment funds for various prgrams.

Some of these measures will be hard to negotiate on a European level, but Hollande stated them as the debate in Europe began to shift away from the tight deficit-cutting rules imposed by the Sarkozy-Merkel alliance, AFP reports.

Hollande won 28.6 percent of the vote in the first round to Sarkozy’s 27.18 percent, and is forecast in opinion polls to beat the incumbent president on May 6.

This means that Hollande and Sarkozy advance to the second round on May 6.

The far right’s Marine Le Pen came third with a shocking 20% of the vote, stirring discussions.

The estimates based on votes counted in polling stations that closed early at 18:00 (16:00 GMT) were made public by French media when all voting ended at 20:00.

According to the French interior ministry, the turnout for the first round of 2012 French presidential election stood at 70.59 percent at 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT), slightly lower than the 73.87 in 2007, Xinhua reported.

The number is considered quite high, but a little less than the incomparable 2007 turnout for the same time.

The second round on May 6 which will include a televised debate, will decide who will be France’s president for the next five years.

Over the past months, campaigning has concentrated on the economy as France confronts an unemployment rate of around 10%, its highest in 12 years, and a stagnant economy as the eurozone debt crisis continues.

voters across France are casting their ballot Sunday in the first round of the 2012 French presidential election choosing between 10 candidates including President Nicolas Sarkozy, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande and extreme right National Front party chief, Marine Le Pen.

According to French law, if no candidate wins 50% of the vote, the top two contenders head for a knock-out round, set to be held on May 6, 2012.

While predictions indicate a high abstention rate leaving the outcome uncertain, opinion polls point towards Francois Hollande, Sarkozy’s main Socialist challenger which could give France its first left-wing president in 17 years just as fears re-emerge over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

The two political leaders are on course to finish in the top two in Sunday’s polling, therefore setting them up to square off in a second round vote on May 6.

The outcome of that vote will decide who is France’s president for the next five years.

Voting has begun in France’s overseas territories but on the mainland citizens must wait until Sunday to cast their ballots.

On Sunday, voting will carry on in 85,000 polling stations across the country’s  mainland. Voting began at 8am local time (06:00 GMT) and continue until 8pm (18:00 GMT).

Over the past  months, campaigning has concentrated on the economy as France confronts an unemployment rate of around 10%,  its highest in 12 years, and a stagnant economy as the eurozone debt crisis continues.