Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday he would not
lead his right-wing UMP party into June's parliamentary polls, as his
campaign spokesperson conceded defeat in the presidential.
"Stay
together. We must win the battle of the legislatives. I will not lead
that campaign," Sarkozy told senior party figures as he read them a
draft of his concession speech, according to political sources at the
meeting.
"I ran a campaign that addressed the French people, not
the French on the left or the French on the right," he reportedly said.
Sarkozy's spokesperson, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, meanwhile
conceded that "we have lost this election" [to Francois Hollande] and
party leader Jean-Francois Cope called for supporters to mobilise in
time for the parliamentary vote.
Hollande is France's first Socialist president in nearly two decades.
The
result will have major implications for Europe as it struggles to
emerge from a financial crisis, and for France, the eurozone's
second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent member of the UN
Security Council.
- AFP