French President Francois Hollande announced he will not run for a second term.

French President François Hollande announced that he has decided not to run for another term as president.

On the evening of December 1, Paris time, speaking live from the Elysée Palace, French President François Hollande announced that he decided not to run for another presidential term.

French President Hollande said: “Power, the exercise of power, the corridors of power, the rituals of power have never made me lose my perspective. I have served my country with all sincerity and for the good of France. And today, I am also aware of the risks of running for another term without sufficiently engaging my supporters. That is why I have decided not to run.”

French President Francois Hollande. Photo: Getty.

President Hollande's statement immediately received a reaction from French politicians. Candidate François Fillon, who just won the right-wing primary election on November 27 and became the official representative to run for the French presidency next year, praised President Hollande's "wisdom" and said that his "failure" in the last term had made him "unable to go further".

Sharing the same view with candidate François Fillon, President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher said that the French President had no other choice but to make this decision. Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, praised the President for “daring to put the common good above ego and personal feelings”, while former Minister of Economy Emmanuel Macron considered this a “courageous act”, and First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) Jean-Christophe Cambadélis welcomed the President’s “vision” for the common good.

President Hollande took office in May 2012. However, since November 2013, he has been considered the “most unpopular” incumbent President of the Fifth Republic. According to a poll conducted at the time, only 15% of those polled said they were “satisfied” with President Hollande’s performance. This rate surpassed the previous record held by President François Mitterrand, who had 22% support, in a poll conducted in December 1991. /.

According to VOV