The French have spoken clearly: They want change. Nicolas Sarkozy, newly elected as the next president of the French Republic, may have soft-pedalled his message of radical labour and social reform during the hard-fought campaign, but it was that message that brought the 52-year-old son of Hungarian immigrants to the pinnacle of French politics. It was the shared sense of the urgent need for change that drew an astounding 85 per cent of the French electorate to the polls. The preliminary tally was 53 per cent for Sarkozy to Ségolène Royal’s 47 per cent. It was an unequivocal mandate for Sarkozy and for change.

As interior and finance minister in the current government, and even as head of the party, Sarkozy has increasingly shaped his own profile in domestic and international affairs, promising a “rupture” with the politics of the past. The greatest challenge for the new president, a tough proponent of law-and-order when he was interior minister who assailed rioting youths in 2005 as “scum,” will be to overcome the deep hostility he has attracted in France’s poor suburbs.

Reaching out to North African immigrants would be a great way for Sarkozy to start his presidency, especially if this would clear the way for him to undertake the liberal reforms for which his cou trymen elected him.