French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced Monday that he would seek the presidency in next year’s election.
Valls will run against others for the Socialist Party’s candidacy, and if successful, he will likely face Francois Fillon of the Republican Party and Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National in the first round of the presidential election next spring.
The announcement Monday came during a news conference in Evry, where Valls previously served as mayor before being elected to the National Assembly. Prior to serving as prime minister, Valls was France’s interior minister.
Moments after announcing his candidacy, Valls said that his aim in running was to create an independent France, “inflexible on its values facing China of Xi Jinping, Russia of Putin, Donald Trump’s America, Turkey of Erdogan,” referring to the leaders of those countries.