France: President Hollande says he will not seek re-election next year

PARIS — President François Hollande stunned France on Thursday when he announced that he would not run for a

second term in next year’s presidential election.

Speaking in a televised address from the Élysée Palace, Mr. Hollande said that he was “aware of the risks” of a candidacy that would not “rally” enough people to it.

“I have thus decided not to be a candidate in the presidential elections,” Mr. Hollande said.

Mr. Hollande, a Socialist, ended weeks of speculations about his intentions to participate in a re-election bid that few observers thought he could win. He has had some of the worst approval ratings for a president in modern French history.