I will leave politics if not re-elected, Sarkozy says on French TV

With just 45 days to go before the first round of the French presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy has challenged voters to give him their trust or he will leave politics. The first official statement that he does not intend to follow a political career if he is not given a second term in office was revealed to the media on Thursday. 

http://www.bfmtv.com/sarkozy/screenshot RFI

But far from throwing in the towel Sarkozy, who is seriously trailing the Socialist candidate François Hollande in opinion polls, insists he has not accepted defeat and will fight with all he has to “protect” French people and “build a strong France”.

“A lot is up for stake,” he said. “I am worried about the programme put forward by the Socialist candidate …I am worried about the huge lack of experience at a very worrying time.”

Sarkozy, who entered politics 35 years ago, is a lawyer by trade, but admitted he did not know what he would do if he was not re-elected. Sarkozy has already said he would step-down if defeated on the sidelines of a recent trip to French Guyana, but this is the first time he has made a public announcement.

In a thinly-veiled attack on former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who remained in French politics 30 years after he was beaten by the Socialist François Mitterand in the 1981 election, he said that hanging on prevented young people from moving up in the political world.

“You become used to power and that is always a very bad thing,” he said.

Socialist candidate Hollande on the campaign trail in the capital Paris on Thursday, refused to speculate on Sarkozy’s announcement saying it was a personal decision.

“As far as I am concerned, my life is in the service of my fellow citizens and I will continue to do this in another form if I am not elected,” he said.

• He will reduce the number of deputies and senators in the National Assembly by 10-15 per cent.
• He will create a National Committee for Training which will work with employers and unions to identify areas where more job training is needed.
• He will create an agency to help single mothers and single parent families obtain the help they are legally entitled to from a child's father.
• He defended his 170 per cent pay rise since becoming president five years ago saying he had not hidden the increase from tax payers. Before Sarkozy, the president was paid 7,000 euros a month which rose to 18,500 under his time in office.