FACTBOX: Five facts about French president-elect Sarkozy
(Reuters) - Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France in an election run-off on Sunday against Socialist Segolene Royal, according to reliable forecasts published after polls closed.
Following are five facts about Sarkozy.
* Sarkozy will be the first son of an immigrant to rule modern France. His father comes from Hungary. A right-wing former interior minister who has led opinion polls since mid-January, he won almost 31.2 percent of votes in the April 22 first-round ballot and was on course to win about 53 percent of votes in the run-off, television projections showed.
* Aged 52, he made his name as a hardliner fighting illegal immigration and crime. Along with national identity, those issues found a strong echo in the latter stages of his campaign.
* Briefly finance minister in 2004, he saved engineering giant Alstom from collapse, confounding critics who branded him a rabid free marketeer. Vows to restore full employment in five years, free up the labor market, encourage French to work more.
* Despite efforts to soften his strident image by showing a more human side, fears of renewed unrest prevented him from campaigning freely in poor districts, whose enmity he earned over his handling of 2005 suburban riots.
* An energetic leader who likes jogging, his character became a campaign issue after he suggested a possible genetic link to pedophilia and faced renewed speculation about his marriage due to low profile of his wife Cecilia, his closest advisor.
