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Francois Bayrou: No-frills 'renaissance man'

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(CNN) -- Francois Bayrou's presidential appeal is a little different from those of his political rivals. A teacher, author, farmer and part-time horse breeder, the centrist Bayrou is a renaissance man running a no-frills presidential campaign.

Bayrou came in fourth during the 2002 presidential elections with 6.84 percent of the votes. While he started out as a dark horse candidate in 2007, he's enjoyed a steady rise in the polls by going against the tide of mainstream politics in Paris.

He hass promised to create a coalition government if elected and his rise in the polls has shaken the campaigns of front-runners Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal.

Francois Bayrou, 55, was born in Borderes, Pyrenees-Atlantiques. He was the eldest son of farmers and still lives in the village of his birth with his wife Elisabeth and six children. He has served as the president of the Union for French Democracy since 1998.

Bayrou attended Nay College in Bordeaux and studied Latin and Greek. He received his Agregation in 1974, the highest teaching qualification for high schools and universities in France. Following the death of his father that same year, Bayrou began working as a professor as well as maintaining the family farm.

He has fewer financial assets than other candidates and is not a member of the country's ruling elite. Bayrou's agricultural background and special affection for tractors has informed his bid for the presidency and bolstered his appeal among leftist voters.

Bayrou has served as a member of the European Parliament and as the Minister of National Education from 1993 to 1997 under Edouard Balladur and Alain Juppe.

He owns two tractors, one inherited from his father, adopting them as a symbol of his campaign. He has also written various books including a history of the famous French King Henri IV.

Bayrou made headlines when he called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics after China opposed levying sanctions against Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

-- Compiled by Zein Basravi for CNN

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