| Son of a Hungarian immigrant and a mother of French Catholic and Greek-Sephardic Jewish descent; was educated in the Lycée Chaptal, Paris; attended the Cours Saint-Louis de Monceau in Paris; received his baccalauréat in 1973; studied in the Paris X University Nanterre, graduating with a master's degree in private law, and later with diplôme d'études approfondies (DEA) in business law; attended the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris) in 1979-1981, but failed to graduate; was admitted to the bar and practiced law; in 1974 he joined the Union of Democrats for the Republic (Union des démocrates pour la République) which was replaced in 1976 with the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République, RPR); elected municipal counselor in Neuilly-sur-Seine (from 1977); served as mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1983-2002); member of the regional council of Île-de-France (1983-1988); member of the general council of the département of Hauts-de-Seine (1985-1988, 2004-2007); was elected vice-president (1986-1988) and president (2004-2007) of the general council of the département of Hauts-de-Seine; elected as a representative of Hauts-de-Seine to the Assemblée nationale (1988-1993, 1995-2002, 2005-2007); served as minister of budget (30 Mar 1993 - 18 May 1995) in the Cabinet of Édouard Balladur; upon the merger of RPR with other parties, he became a member of the Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, UMP) in 2002; president of the UMP (2004-2007); was appointed interior minister (7 May 2002 - 31 Mar 2004) and minister of state, minister of economy, finance and industry (31 Mar 2004 - 29 Nov 2004) in the Cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffarin; minister of state, minister of interior and land-use planning (2 Jun 2005 - 26 Mar 2007) in the Cabinet of Dominique Galouzeau de Villepin; elected President of the Republic and entered the office 16 May 2007. |
| Candidate |
Popular vote (21 Apr 2007 - 22 Apr 2007) |
Popular vote (5 May 2007 - 6 May 2007) |
| registered voters |
44,472,834 |
44,472,733 |
| votes cast |
37,254,242 |
37,342,004 |
| valid votes |
36,719,396 |
35,773,578 |
| absolute majority |
18,359,699 |
17,886,790 |
| Nicolas-Paul-Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa |
11,448,663 |
18,983,138 |
| Marie-Ségolène Royal |
9,500,112 |
16,790,440 |
| François-René-Jean-Lucien Bayrou |
6,820,119 |
- |
| Jean-Marie Louis Le Pen |
3,834,530 |
- |
| Olivier Besancenot |
1,498,581 |
- |
| Vicomte Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon |
818,407 |
- |
| Marie-George Kosellek, épouse Buffet |
707,268 |
- |
| Dominique Voynet |
576,666 |
- |
| Arlette-Yvonne Laguiller |
487,857 |
- |
| Joseph Bové, dit José Bové |
483,008 |
- |
| Frédéric Nihous |
420,645 |
- |
| Gérard Schivardi |
123,540 |
- |
|
