Sarkozy will seek the presidency

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy plans to seek the French presidency, pledging to recharge the country by breaking with coveted job protections and better integrating disillusioned minorities.

Polls show the conservative Sarkozy neck and neck with his rival on the left, Socialist Segolene Royal. Royal, who was nominated two weeks ago, would become France’s first female president if she won the April-May elections.

Sarkozy, leader of President Jacques Chirac’s ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, has garnered popularity, and enemies, for his tough stance on immigration and crimes committed by youths.