Your e-mails: France's Presidential Election

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(CNN) -- France was Monday looking ahead to a new political era after conservative Nicolas Sarkozy took a decisive victory in presidential elections that he claimed as a five year mandate for change. (Full story)

CNN.com asked readers what they thought of France's new president. (E-mail us) Below is a selection of their responses, some of which have been edited for length and clarity:

Pascal Tenand, France
This is a landmark election as we were awaiting this for so long, someone that has the will to reform our country and get rid of its anachronisms in this era of globalization. I am absolutely proud of my fellow citizens as they gave a clear mandate to someone who clearly stated what he wanted to do even as painful as it may be. Good luck Nicolas, we are all behind you.

Mariam, Paris, France
What shocks me most is Nicolas Sarkozy's immigration policies. I am French, born and raised. I am also black. Sarkozy wants to put in place a law that obliges people who want to join their family in France to speak and read French. It may seem common sense for those who are not in this position. It is not for me. What's wrong in learning French in France? I spent two years in America. I did not have good English at the beginning but I went to school and now I am able to speak and read English. The new French President only wants to decrease immigration by any means necessary.

Ali Emmanuel Figo Abakaliki, Nigeria
The election of Nicolas Sarkozy as the France president will bring development both in the political and economic status of the great country France. France has been politically silenced in the past years but with Sarkozy and his new policies, I believe France will come back to her position as one of the European powers. Sarkozy is the man for France; he feels what the people are feeling.

Elena Fitzgerald
Time will tell if Sarkozy is good for France, Europe, etc. It did seem apparent that change was needed in France. I am not ready to say Sarkozy is "the one." I hope he does not lean too far to the right. I hope he improves conditions and relations with France's Muslim population.

Harikrishna M, Mumbai, India
Nicolas Sarkozy is definitely a welcome change for a country that grappled severe economic, social and unemployment conditions in the past decade or so. It's about time that the French embraced change and and came out of their inertia. Sarkozy is definitely the right man for the job. To bring France back into the economic mainstay should and will be his main objective. One can only hope that Sarko lives up to his promises.

Marie, France
I don't think that Sarkozy's election is a good way to build a new France. He just wants to do in France what had been done in Great Britain and even the U.S. What happened there? Ok, there is not such unemployment as in France but there's a lot of precariousness. There's not social protection and you can be fired overnight. He's just a liberal and he won't gather people. His friends are the rich and I hope he'll help the middle and the working class as he has promised. We need to work and capitalism is there but we have social rights which are established and I hope not to lose that.

Emmanuel Iffer, Abuja, Nigeria
I congratulate Mr. Sarkozy for emerging victorious in the French election, though I had preferred Royal. I think he should forge a better relationship with African countries, especially Nigeria and the other Anglophone nations, as opposed to the current selective policy on Africa and bias for the French-speaking countries.

Sylvie, France
I'm going to tell you what, we, the French, think of our new president. We're very happy! At least we're going to have new policies in our country weakened, impoverished by all these socialist years. Sarkozy is a man who is not afraid of globalization. He's strong, he can say the right words, he's pragmatic and chiefly he acts. Nicolas Sarkozy is the man we need, so, we, the French, have chosen him as President.

Frank Mento, Paris, France
I think Nicolas Sarkozy will make a good President if he isn't hampered by all the strikes that await him. You can be sure that he will be tested by the entire public sector.

Laurel, Melbourne
First and foremost, we shall miss President Jacques Chirac. Perhaps the only eloquent and compassionate leader in politics today! Sarkozy??!! Frighteningly, eloquent Henri Bernard-Levy's analogy as a "French George Bush" is sufficient to make us all stop in our tracks and worry! French friends around the planet have supported Segolene Royal. It's a pity... She'd have made a positive difference.

Angelina Mouert, Paris, France
I think the French people, those who voted for Sarkozy and those who are against him, have no choice but to wait for the results he will bring to France, whether good or bad. He talks and "promises," but those are only words. We will have to wait for the action he will take.