France's Le Pen 'to run' in poll
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Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen says he has the 500 sponsors needed to run in the presidential poll.
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French President Jacques Chirac was expected to announce Sunday that he will not stand as a candidate in next month's elections, confirming that he plans to retire in May after more than 40 years in politics.
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French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen says he is having problems getting endorsement to run for president.
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French President Jacques Chirac is widely expected to rule out a third term in office in a televised address.
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Foreign Minister Nicolas Sarkozy says he will stand for the leadership of France's main governing party.
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Polls show a tight three-way contest in France's presidential race, with a centrist former education minister just a few points behind the two established candidates. But that's only half the story. Six weeks before balloting begins, at least 40 percent of those asked said they still don't know whom they want as president, leaving the race wide open.
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PARIS   Polls show a tight three-way contest in France's presidential race, with a centrist former education minister just a few points behind the two established candidates.Comment
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Voting got under way on Saturday in some  overseas French territories in the decisive round of  parliamentary elections which are expected to hand President  Nicolas Sarkozy a huge majority for his reform plans.
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Centrist Francois Bayrou has said he would stand for French president to offer an alternative to favourites Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's election.
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France's crusader of the far right, who rallied flag-waving followers at a National Front party congress Sunday, is making his sixth long-shot bid for France's presidency.Comment
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PARIS -- President Jacques Chirac announced yesterday he would not seek reelection next month after 45 years in front-line politics and appealed to French voters to shun extremism.
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Jacques Chirac, admired and scorned during 12 years as France's president, announced Sunday he will not seek a third term in elections this spring &#151; a widely expected move given his low popularity, his age and a conservative rival who has siphoned off his political base.
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The race opens this week for the prize of carrying the opposition Socialist Party (PS) banner in France's approaching elections, with the star of the opinion polls Segolene Royal well-positioned to pursue her bid to be the country's first woman president.
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French President Jacques Chirac will go on TV on Sunday to say if he will run for re-election, his office says.
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Conservatives are expected to win a commanding majority in legislative elections, giving the new president a free hand to transform France
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Jean-Marie Le Pen is shaking up France's election season, thanks to some surprising new supporters
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French President Jacques Chirac is expected to confirm that he will not stand for re-election when he appears on television on Sunday, marking the end of a political career spanning more than four decades.