France ex-economy Minister Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday his candidacy for the French presidency, a long-awaited move that could disrupt other campaigns on both the left and the right.
The 38-year-old former investment banker quit his job as economy minister earlier this year and has set up his own political movement called “En Marche” (Forward)”.
Despite his past role in Socialist President François Hollande’s government and as an adviser to him before that, Macron is not a member of the Socialist Party.
He is also not an elected politician, and commentators say his lack of a party apparatus makes him an unlikely winner.
However, as one of France’s most popular politicians, his policies take aim at the centre ground, which is also the target of Alain Juppé, the pollsters’ current favorite to become president in the two-round election next April and May.
Macron’s widely-expected intervention comes just days before the first round of the primaries of the Les Republicains party and its centre-right allies on Sunday, and the timing was not lost on one of Juppé’s supporters in parliament, Benoist Apparu.
French voters can cast ballots in the primaries whether they are party members or not.
An October poll published by Odoxa put Macron at the top of a list of potential presidents from the left, with 49 percent considering him a good head of state. Prime Minister Manuel Valls came second on 42 percent while Hollande was out of the running on 13 percent, behind several others.
Among Socialist voters, Valls came first on 70 percent with Macron in second place on 50 percent.
Source: France 24
