François Hollande has become the first president in modern French history to decide not to run for re-election in a shock prime time announcement that paves the way for a war of succession on the Left.
The live announcement from the Elysée Palace by Mr Hollande, France’s least popular post-war leader with an approval rating of four per cent, was a total surprise to even his innermost circle, telegraph.co.uk reports.
It opens the way for his prime minister, Manuel Valls, to join a growing cortege of pretenders to lead the Left in presidential elections next April and May.
The latest opinion polls suggested that only 7.5 per cent of the electorate would vote for him in next April’s first round of presidential elections, compared to 29 per cent for François Fillon, the newly-elected Right-wing nominee, and 23 per cent of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-Right Front National.
Mr Fillon said Mr Hollande’s decision showed he was “lucid” about what he called “his clear failure”. “Those five years (of the Hollande mandate) end in political shambles and decay,” he said.
Mr Valls saluted Mr Hollande’s decision as “the choice of a statesman”.