Emmanuel Macron declared that he will seek the French presidency in next year’s election, ending months of speculation after he repeatedly pledged to offer an alternative to both the political establishment and to populists, Bloomberg News reports.
The 38-year-old former economy minister and one-time investment banker left President Francois Hollande’s government in August, saying he wanted more freedom to develop his ideas for repairing France’s ailing economy and increasingly bitter social divisions.
Like Trump, Macron has never been elected into any political office and will be running under the wings of a centrist political party, En Marche which he founded earlier this year. The party already has a little over 96,000 members and has raised over $2.9 million in donations since inception.
The former economy minister is a one-time protege of President Francois Hollande who quit the unpopular Socialist government in August amid discontent within the party over his political ambitions.
Mr Hollande has not yet confirmed whether he will stand for re-election and will make a decision in the coming weeks. He has the lowest popularity ratings of any post-war French president.
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