Villepin to shake up French presidential race

FORMER French prime minister Dominique de Villepin, who gained international renown as France’s spokesman against the war in Iraq, has shaken up the presidential campaign by announcing he’ll run as an independent.

The announcement is likely to complicate life for both the socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, who runs the UMP party that Villepin served under.

By positioning himself asa centrist, Villepin could siphon votes from both the other candidates. But in France the move was seen primarily as a finger in the eye of Sarkozy since the two men — despite inhabiting the same conservative side of the political spectrum — are bitter rivals.