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.

Villepin was acquitted in September of charges he took part in a smear campaign against Sarkozy. He has criticised Sarkozy for not protecting France’s interests at a recent EU summit and imposing several rounds of budget cuts.

With growth slowing and difficult budget cuts likely ahead, both Hollande and Sarkozy have tried to paint themselves as beyond partisanship — possibly because they fear both established parties will be blamed for country’s high debt levels and poor economy.

Sarkozy has not even declared his candidacy yet, saying that in this time of crisis, he needs to focus on being a leader, not a candidate.

Villepin, too, said his candidacy will eschew party politics and distanced himself from the UMP.

“I am not for the republic of parties. I don’t believe that truth lies on the right, on the left or in the centre,” he hold TF1 television.

He also dismissed a deal forged last week to bind the countries that use the euro closer together, including giving officials in Brussels more oversight over national budgets. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were the primary authors of the accord.

“We’re falling in line behind interests that are not those of France. I think we need more courage than that,” he said.

Members of the UMP denounced Villepin’s decision, saying he risked splitting the party. While Villepin has little chance of winning — it’s still unclear whether he would get all of the mayoral signatures he needs to officially enter the race — he could play spoiler.