France Elections Live Blog

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the Europen Union's fiscal pact:

I believe the fiscal pact is correct and secondly I think that we can't simply re-open for discussion everything we have already agreed after an election in a small or big country."

All this would be discussed with Hollande in a "friendly fashion" when he visits Berlin, Merkel said, adding: "For me, it's about the future of Europe."

The German government has ruled out reworking the European Union's fiscal pact despite calls to do so by French president-elect Francois Hollande. 

"It is not possible to renegotiate the fiscal pact," government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference.

Gulf countries have this morning congratulated Francois Hollande on his election, which has major economic ties with these countries, their official news agencies said Monday.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, president of the United Arab Emirates, sent a telegram wishing Hollande "success" and "further progress in relations" between the two countries, in a statement carried by WAM news agency.

France during Nicolas Sarkozy's rule, bolstered its military ties with the Gulf state since it set up its first permanent military base in Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest and largest of the UAE's seven emirates. But France has so far failed in convincing the UAE to buy its Rafale fighters and in 2009 lost out to a South Korean consortium on a $20.4 billion deal to build nuclear power plants in the Gulf state.

Qatar's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani also congratulated Hollande in a brief message carried by news agency QNA.Gas-rich Qatar is a traditional French ally and provided vital Arab support to French and British-led efforts to get a UN mandate for military action to protect civilians during the 2011 uprising in Libya.

Qatar also gave military support to NATO-led air operations in Libya by deploying troops on the ground.The small Gulf peninsula state has also raised its stake in French energy giant Total and will launch a fund for entrepreneurs from France's deprived suburbs.

Bahrain's King Hamad too sent a telegram to Hollande wishing him "success" and hailing the "deep and strong ties between the two countries." 

Final election results are now in from the French Interior Ministry:

Francois Hollande - 51.62 per cent

Nicolas Sarkozy - 48.38 per cent

Voter turnout was 80.34 per cent, making Hollande's winning margin about 1.13 million votes.