French President Jacques Chirac lent his support to Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential bid today, setting aside longstanding hostility between the pair to strengthen the right's campaign.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy
Mr Chirac steps down after 12 years in office following the second round of the election in May but he had kept silent over whether he would back his ambitious former protege.
In a brief televised statement Mr Chirac said Mr Sarkozy had been chosen as the candidate of the ruling UMP party, a centre-right formation he set up in 2002 and which Mr Sarkozy now leads.
"So it is totally natural that I give him my vote and my support," he said in a statement that lacked any sign of personal warmth. Failure to secure Mr Chirac's endorsement could have undermined Mr Sarkozy's credentials as the right's candidate.
"I am very touched by this decision," Mr Sarkozy said in a statement. "It is important for me on a political but also on a personal level."
Mr Chirac said Mr Sarkozy would step down next week as interior minister, the post in which the 52-year-old made his name as a law and order hardliner, to focus on his campaign ahead of the first round of the election on April 22nd.
Mr Sarkozy has consistently led his Socialist rival Segolene Royal in opinion polls which suggest he would secure a clear victory if they faced each other in the second round on May 6th.
But he faces a growing threat from centrist Francois Bayrou who has been campaigning as the man to overcome the traditional divisions of French politics. He is running third in polls but would have a good chance of winning, if he made it through to the run-off, by rallying the anti-Sarkozy vote.
Mr Sarkozy fell out with Mr Chirac after backing his rival Edouard Balladur in the 1995 election and he began his campaign by antagonising Mr Chirac with repeated pledges to break with the policies of the past.