Ten-horse race for French presidency

Chirac faces a battle to stay in Elysee Palace

The number of expected candidates for the French presidential election went into double figures on Tuesday, as the leader of a small French centre-ground party threw his hat into the ring.

Expected contenders

Jacques Chirac - RPR

Lionel Jospin - Socialist

Jean-Pierre Chevenement - Movement of Citizens

Jean-Marie Le Pen - National Front

Francois Bayrou - Union for French Democracy

Noel Mamere - Greens

Arlette Laguiller - Workers' Struggle

Robert Hue - Communists

Alain Madelin - Liberal Democrats

Corinne Lepage - Cap 21

Francois Bayrou, who heads the Union for French Democracy, formally declared that he was joining the race in the Pyrenean town of Pau.

Recent opinion polls have suggested that he has only 5% or 6% of public support, but he insists he offers the best alternative to the headline-grabbing anticipated choice between current President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

Socialist Mr Jospin is widely expected to stand, although has not yet declared his intentions.

Mr Chirac, of the right-wing RPR party, is trying to secure another term in office, and opinion polls give him a slight edge over his socialist rival.

'French disease'

Francois Bayrou: France needs change

Mr Bayrou launched his campaign insisting that the two men offered nothing substantially different.

"In France, unlike in the major countries which surround us, the people in power never leave," he said.

"They quietly wait for the next election, and come back with the same act, the same failures and the same men."

"It is the root of the French disease. What we need is a changing of the guard for France," he said.

Lionel Jospin: Not officially in the race yet

Mr Bayrou was French education minister for several years in the mid-1990s, before becoming leader of the UDF in 1998.

The first round of the election will take place in April.

The top two candidates will go forward to the second round in May.

With the president and prime minister ahead in the polls, former Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement and National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen are battling it out for third place.

Jacques Chirac: Ahead in polls despite sleaze claims

The Greens' Noel Mamere, veteran left-winger Arlette Laguiller, communist leader Robert Hue, ex-environment minister Corinne Lepage of citizens' movement Cap 21, and Liberal Democrat Alain Madelin are also in the race.

Mr Chirac has been fending off corruption allegations, refusing to answer questions from an investigating magistrate on the grounds of presidential immunity.

The ongoing inquiries have, however, not apparently affected his standing in the polls.