French President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally declared his candidacy for a second term seeking to overturn a wide poll lag with promises to get the unemployed back to work and use referendums to consult the French people on reforms.
The centre-right president, who trails Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls has ended weeks of speculation over the timing of his bid by saying that like a sea captain in a storm, he could not "abandon my post".
Mr Sarkozy told TF1 channel's evening news programme: "Yes, I am a candidate for the presidential election."
He also claimed that a "strong France" would protect people from global economic turmoil.
Dozens of polls show Mr Hollande would beat Sarkozy by up to 15 points in a 6 May run-off, but the president's allies hope his dynamic campaigning style will allow him to narrow the gap before a 22 April first round.
Despite a disapproval rating of 68%, Mr Sarkozy hopes to present himself as an experienced leader who can drag France out of an economic slump and overcome the eurozone crisis.
With unemployment stuck at a 12-year high of 9.3% and a stream of news about companies closing or relocating production abroad, Mr Sarkozy, who took office in 2007 pledging a return to full employment, said that he would focus on retraining the unemployed to get them back to work.
After being accused of not listening to popular discontent over pension reforms and tax measures during his five years in power, Mr Sarkozy pledged to consult voters on his reform programme if re-elected.
President Sarkozy's plans to cut companies' social welfare contributions has won backing in the lower house of parliament even though a key panel had earlier rejected the reform aimed at reviving the competitiveness of French firms.
