Sarkozy Officially Announces Re-election Bid

French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially announced Wednesday that he was running for re-election, with fewer than 10 weeks to polling day and the center-right leader trailing in opinion polls.

"Yes, I am a candidate in the presidential election," Sarkozy said in an interview on France's TF1 television.

"I took this decision because France, Europe and the world have for the last three years seen a series of unprecedented crises, which means that not seeking a new mandate from the French people would be abandoning my duties."

Sarkozy said he was presenting himself as "the captain of a boat in the heart of a storm", adding: "I have things to say to the French people, I have proposals to make to them."

The French president has been operating on a de facto campaign schedule of television appearances and twice-weekly regional tours for months now, but had yet to officially confirm his candidacy.

Opinion polls consistently forecast that Sarkozy will be beaten by Socialist rival Francois Hollande in a run-off on May 6, but the president's camp is clinging to hope that he can rekindle the energy that brought him to office in 2007.

Sarkozy's program combined the most modern tactics -- he launched a Twitter account on Wednesday -- and the most traditional -- he was due to visit a provincial cheese factory in the Alps on Thursday.

After Thursday's trip to the Annecy cheese plant, he will hold a large set-piece rally in the southern port city of Marseille on Sunday.

The French left has not won a presidential election since 1988, but former Socialist leader Hollande has a comfortable lead in opinion polls.

The latest survey published Wednesday by Harris Interactive for the news magazine VSD forecast that Hollande would win the first round with 28 percent to Sarkozy's 24 then sweep the run-off with 57 percent to 43.

In this poll the only other candidate within striking distance of the second round would be far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen on 20 percent, but most observers now see the campaign as a two-horse race.