France's Hollande says may run in 2027 if victory looks attainable, paper says

MILAN, Sept 28 - Former French Socialist President Francois Hollande may decide to run for president in 2027, but only if he sees a real chance of winning, he told Italian daily la Repubblica on Monday.

• "Running for the presidency is not a decision to be taken lightly, all the more so for a former head of state like myself," Holland said in the interview.

• He added he would consider running only under exceptional circumstances and only if there was a realistic chance of reaching the runoff and ultimately win.

• Hollande, 72, was France's president from 2012 to 2017. The French presidential election will be held in the spring of 2027.

• French far-right leader Marine Le Pen maintained her lead for the first-round of the presidential election and far-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon was second in most tested scenarios, according to a poll released two weeks ago.

• Macron’s former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe is the only centre-right candidate to come ahead of Mélenchon in one of the scenarios tested, and to tie with him in another. The other candidates would finish behind Mélenchon in all scenarios.

• "The France of 2027 bears little resemblance to the one I governed. We are facing a more threatening, more dangerous and harsher world, and a European continent that has become a target for powers such as the United States, China and Russia. Europe is confronting an existential crisis," former president Hollande also said. REUTERS