Francois Hollande will not stand for re-election in France

French president François Hollande cited “the higher interest of the country” in announcing on Thursday night that he will not stand for re-election.

The field is now wide open for a left-wing candidate to challenge the conservative François Fillon and the extreme-right wing leader Marine Le Pen in next spring’s presidential election.

Mr Hollande is the first president since the foundation of the fifth republic in 1958 not to seek a second term. He appeared on the 8pm television news at short notice, dressed in black. With a lugubrious expression and flat voice, he said, “I am conscious of the risks of such an undertaking, that would not unite people around me. Thus, I have decided not to be a candidate in the presidential election . . . For the coming months, my sole duty will be to devote myself totally to running the country.”

Opinion polls this week indicated Mr Hollande would receive as little as 7 per cent of the vote in the first round of the election next April 23rd, and come in fifth, trailing Mr Fillon, Ms Le Pen, his former economy minister Emmanuel Macron and the communist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“The main commitment I made to you was to make unemployment decline,” Mr Hollande said. “The results arrived later than I said they would, I admit it, but they are there.”

Achievements in office

Mr Hollande began by listing his achievements in office: preserving the unity of the country amid jihadist attacks that killed 238 people in 2015 and 2016; the legalisation of same sex marriage; the conclusion of the Paris accord on climate change.

“I have but one regret, having proposed the revocation of nationality [for convicted terrorists],” Mr Hollande said. “I thought it would unite us, but it divided us.”

For weeks, Mr Hollande’s family and closest friends had begged him to avoid the humiliation of defeat in the socialist party primary on January 22nd-29th.

The publication in October of A President Shouldn't Say This, 100 hours of presidential musings before two journalists from Le Monde, was the final blow to Mr Hollande's chances of re-election.

The announcement followed weeks of tension with prime minister Manuel Valls, who was torn between loyalty to Mr Hollande and his own presidential ambitions.

Mr Valls forced Mr Hollande to take a decision by telling the Journal du Dimanche on November 27th that he was preparing for the presidential election, and that he was ready. "The left can die," he said. "The primary is there to decide and to enable us to win."

Leftist candidates

There are already eight left-wing and environmentalist presidential candidates. Two questions now face them: can they show enough discipline to agree on a single champion? And can a left-wing candidate gain enough popularity to survive to the May 7th run-off?

The former industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, who is on the left of the socialist party, was until now favoured to win the socialist primary. Mr Macron has so far resisted pressure to stand in the primary, but risks opprobrium from the left if he runs as an independent.

It is now a three-way race between Macron, Montebourg and Valls, all relatively young and charismatic, for the socialist nomination. December 15th is the deadline for declaring.

Mr Valls is expected to announce his candidacy quickly. It is not clear if he will continue in office until the election, or resign to free himself for the campaign. He shares Mr Hollande’s record in office, as outlined by the president last night.

Mr Hollande called for “a collective burst of energy committing all progressive people,” but pointedly did not say who he would support for the socialist nomination.

The scenario of a rematch between the previous president Nicolas Sarkozy and Mr Hollande, rejected by 80 per cent of the electorate, has now been avoided. Mr Sarkozy was eliminated in the first round of the conservative Les Républicains primary on November 20th.