The AFP reports:

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande won the French presidential election on Sunday with between 52 and 53 per cent of the vote, ousting right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, according to estimates.

Joyful crowds were gathering in Hollande's hometown of Tulle and in front of Socialist headquarters in Paris, as rumours of the result spread more than an hour before French media were legally permitted to publish results.