PARIS (AP) – Energized French voters chose Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president on Sunday, giving the American-friendly conservative a comfortable margin for victory and a mandate for change, result projections from four polling agencies showed. His Socialist opponent conceded minutes after polls closed.

The agencies said the conservative won 53 percent of the vote amid massive turnout, dashing Socialist Segolene Royal’s hopes of being elected France’s first woman president. The projections were based on vote counts from representative samples of hundreds of polling stations across the country.

Voter turnout was projected a 85 percent – a level not seen in 40 years – thanks to the dynamism of both candidates and the high stakes for a nation losing global clout to neighbors Britain and German and even developing countries like China and India.

A smiling Ms. Royal immediately conceded defeat and wished her rival well.

“I gave it all my efforts, and will continue,” she told supporters. “Something has risen up that will not stop.”

Mr. Sarkozy – a charismatic but divisive figure known for uncompromising, even brutal language – inherits from Jacques Chirac stagnant wages, a lagging economy and frustration in impoverished, immigrant-heavy suburbs.

While exuberant Mr. Sarkozy supporters partied in central Paris, police quietly prepared for possible election night violence in suburbs where Mr. Sarkozy is unpopular and riots broke out in 2005.

Mr. Sarkozy – for whom the presidency has been a near-lifelong quest – is certain to face resistance to his plans to make the French work more and make it easier for companies to hire and fire.