Villepin announces run for French presidency

Former French prime minister and conservative politician Dominique de Villepin announced Sunday he would take on his right-wing rival President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential vote. "I intend to defend a certain idea of France... I have a conviction: the 2012 meeting will be a meeting of truth, courage and will," he told TF1 television. Villepin, a diplomat best remembered for leading the charge against the Iraq war at the United Nations in 2003, is a protege of former president Jacques Chirac. It was under Chirac that he served as foreign minister from 2002 to 2004 and as prime minister from 2005 to 2007. He and Sarkozy are bitter rivals and in September a French appeals court confirmed his acquittal over a political scandal in which he was accused of having smeared the future president. Villepin said he was "worried" to see "France humiliated by the law of the markets which imposes more and austerity". "I have confidence in the ability of the French people to discern what is in the public interest and to what point, more than ever, national unity is required of us all," said Villepin. But opinion polls suggest that the 58-year-old former diplomat would win only one percent of the vote. France will vote in the first round of a presidential election in April and potentially a second round in May, followed by parliamentary elections in June.