Paris: Former French prime minister Édouard Philippe, considered one of the country’s most popular politicians, has announced that he plans to run in the 2027 presidential elections.
Philippe, who served as current President Emmanuel Macron’s first prime minister from 2017-2020, made the widely expected announcement in an interview with the magazine Le Point published late Tuesday.
In a survey by the polling institute Ipsos in June, 36 percent of respondents said they would be very or quite satisfied if Philippe, currently serving as mayor of the port city Le Havre in the Normandy region, were to become president.
This gave Philippe the highest approval rating among the politicians surveyed, ahead of Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Rally (RN) who were next on the list.
The 53-year-old founded his centre-right Horizons party nearly three years ago. It is currently part of Macron’s centrist Ensemble (Together) coalition. Philippe has long been rumoured to have presidential ambitions. (DPA)
