Paris, May 7(ANI): Defeating Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative incumbent president whose five year term was undermined by Europe s economic crisis and his own combative personality, Francois Hollande, a moderate Socialist, has been elected as France’s first Socialist president in nearly two decades. Hollande won Sunday’s presidential runoff with 51.7 percent of the vote, according to interior ministry figures, with 99 percent of the vote counted. He distanced himself from his former colleague with flashy and impulsive character saying that he has got nothing to do with it.Among his challengers were Royal who failed to make it through to the second round, and Martine Aubry, known internationally as the architect of the famous French 35 hour working week.
