Nicolas Sarkozy tonight conceded defeat to Socialist Francois Hollande as his presidential career ended in humiliation.
In a speech before supporters the incumbent said he had called his rival to wish him 'good luck' as France's new leader.
Following one of the bitterest election campaigns in recent history, official results showed Hollande with 51 per cent of the vote compared with Sarkozy's 49 per cent, the Interior Ministry said.
With two thirds of the vote counted, the CSA, TNS-Sofres and Ipsos polling agencies all predicted a Hollande win as well.
It means that Sarkozy, a self-styled radical conservative who had pledged to reform France as Margaret Thatcher had Britain in the 1980s, became a one-term president who achieved relatively little.
Sarkozy thanked his supporters and said he did his best to win a second term, despite widespread anger at his handling of the economy.
He said: 'I take responsibility ... for the defeat.'
Hollande, meanwhile, took to the stage in his political heartland of Tulle, in the south-west of the country, to make his acceptance speech.
