Jubilant left-wingers thronged the Bastille, a Paris square synonymous with the French Revolution, to celebrate the triumph of France's first Socialist president in nearly two decades.
"Sarko, it's over!" was the cry from the tens of thousands who gathered in the eastern plaza to wait for Francois Hollande to arrive to give a victory speech.
Champagne corks and red smoke flares popped as Hollande's face appeared on giant screens set up near the stage where the president-elect was due to speak around midnight after flying back from his central hometown of Tulle.
"The Elysee is ours!" "We have won, we have won!" chanted the crowd after hearing that right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy had lost the vote after a five-year mandate, during which critics said he had sought to divide France.
Many in the crowd drew parallels with 1981, when Socialist candidate Francois Mitterrand delivered a victory speech in Bastille square after he defeated the conservative president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
"All I have really known is the right. I know nothing fundamental will change, but there will be more tolerance, more humanity, less stigmatisation, a more peaceful society," said 27-year-old teacher Julien Auffret.
Auffret was surrounded by a sea of joyful faces as people flocked to the square to await their new head of state.
The party atmosphere was boosted by sound system bass rippling through the crowd and spontaneous dance groups springing up around djembe players, as others waved Communist Party flags or drank beer.
Many young people wore T-shirts with 'Casse-toi, pauvre con" ("Get stuffed, you stupid b*****d") stickers, a reference to a notorious remark Sarkozy once made to a man who refused to shake his hand.
A flower in her hair and tears in her eyes, Catherine Cocagne said she wanted to savour the moment in Bastille.
"He has gone!" said the 47-year-old secretary. "It's brilliant, I'm over the moon. We're pinning all our hopes on Francois, but he'd better not get it wrong, because otherwise it will be the extremes that win next time."
