PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy will seek a second term in upcoming elections despite years of low popularity ratings, pledging Wednesday to boost its lagging economy and protect the country's way of life.
"Yes, I am a candidate for the presidential elections," Sarkozy said on national TV network TF1 on Wednesday night.
For months, polls have shown Sarkozy well behind front-runner Francois Hollande, the longtime head of France's Socialist Party.
Pollsters say the president will face an uphill battle to convince disillusioned voters that they should elect him again. He has only two months to change minds: The first round of the two-round vote is April 22.
Sarkozy had been widely expected to announce his candidacy, but had kept his intentions quiet as other candidates have been openly campaigning for months.
In his announcement Wednesday, Sarkozy blamed French voters' troubles in part on three years of financial crisis and said he would focus on getting more people working. He promised a referendum on jobless benefits and training the unemployed, and said further reforms are needed to maintain France's "way of life."
He said France cannot turn in on itself and "pretend the crisis doesn't exist."
France's two-round presidential ballot in April and May is likely to have an impact throughout the European Union. Sarkozy has been closely involved in the fight to save the euro amid a sovereign debt crisis in the bloc.
Pollsters suggest that Sarkozy's political problems are as much of his own making as France's economic woes. Critics say Sarkozy failed to deliver on promises to improve purchasing power, hiked his own salary, and infused the gilded presidential palace with "bling" that was ill-suited for France's cultural self-image.
Earlier Wednesday, Sarkozy launched a personal Twitter account and, uncharacteristically humble, thanked all those "who will kindly follow me." Tens of thousands of followers joined within hours.
Sarkozy's looming candidacy has become one of France's worst-kept political secrets. Media reported his Paris campaign headquarters are ready to go, with about a dozen presidential staffers to move over, and he's widely expected to attend rallies for his UMP party in the Alpine town of Annecy on Thursday, and in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille on Sunday.
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