French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday stepped down from the top position and announced his candidacy for the 2017 presidential race in France to succeed Francois Hollande next year.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been appointed the new prime minister.
The 54-year-old secretary of the Democratic Party announced his candidacy in a speech from his political base in the Paris suburb of Evry.
Valls on Monday threw his hat in the ring to succeed Francois Hollande in next year's presidential election. "I am a candidate for the presidency of the Republic...I have a responsibility to unite," he said.
Although earlier polls indicate a victory the far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the opening round of the election on April 23, it was later suggested that she would be defeated by the conservative candidate Francois Fillon. Several leaders have warned against the win of Le Pen and said that she would "take us out of Europe" and her policies would "ruin the working class."
Days after French President Hollande announced that he will not seek a second term next year, former prime minister François Fillon of the Republican Party was named the official candidate from the party to contest the presidential election.
Frances presidential election is scheduled in two rounds in April and May 2017. Socialists are reportedly behind Les Republicans and the far-right National Front parties, according to latest opinion polls.
The National Front is contesting Marine Le Pen to take on Fillon in the upcoming election. Valls has also been regarded as a strong presidential candidate since long. He is likely to contest fellow Socialist Arnaud Montebourg to win the presidential bid from his party. Montebourg is a leftist firebrand and former economy minister under Hollande government, Reuters reported.
