The race is now on for voters in the middle ground and others who deserted the left and right in favour of farmer's son and lawmaker Francois Bayrou, who placed third on Sunday in one of the big surprises of the campaign. Both Sarkozy and Royal planned rallies Monday night.

It won't be a "walk in the park" for Sarkozy even though he is in a strong position heading into the runoff, said Bruno Cautres, researcher at the prestigious Institute for Political Sciences.

With nearly all votes counted, Sarkozy had 31.1 percent, followed by Royal with 25.8 percent and Bayrou with 18.5 percent. Turnout was 84.6 percent the highest in more than 40 years and just shy of the record set in 1965.

Royal is the first woman to get this close to the helm of this major European economic, military and diplomatic power. Sarkozy would be likely to push his anxious nation toward painful change.

Either way, France will get its first president with no memory of World War II to replace the 74-year-old Jacques Chirac, who is stepping down after 12 years.

Sunday's first round of voting shut out 10 other hopefuls, from Trotskyists to far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen had hoped to repeat his shockingly strong showing of 2002 but instead finished a weak fourth with 10.5 percent.

Both Sarkozy, a Hungarian immigrant's son, and Royal, a military officer's daughter who beat Socialist heavyweights to win her party's nomination, are in their 50s and have travelled long, arduous roads to get to this point.