François Hollande

François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande born 12 August 1954 is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017 Prior to his presidency he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party PS from 1997 to 2008 Mayor of Tulle from 2001 to 2008 as well as President of the General Council of Corrèze from 2008 to 2012 Hollande also held the 1st constituency of Corrèze seat in the National Assembly twice from 1988 to 1993 and again from 1997 until 2012 Born in Rouen and raised in NeuillysurSeine Hollande began his political career as a special advisor to newly elected President François Mitterrand before serving as a staffer for Max Gallo the governments spokesman He became a member of the National Assembly in 1988 and was elected First Secretary of the PS in 1997 Following the 2004 regional elections won by the PS Hollande was cited as a potential presidential candidate but he resigned as First Secretary and was immediately elected to replace JeanPierre Dupont as President of the General Council of Corrèze in 2008 In 2011 Hollande announced that he would be a candidate in the primary election to select the PS presidential nominee he won the nomination against Martine Aubry before he was elected to the presidency becoming also ex officio CoPrince of Andorra on 6 May 2012 in the second round with 516 of the vote defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy During his tenure Hollande legalized samesex marriage by passing Bill no 344 reformed labour laws and credit training programmes signed a law restricting the cumul des mandats and withdrew French forces in Afghanistan in addition to concluding an EU directive on the protection of animals in laboratory research through a FrancoGerman contract Hollande led the country through the January and November 2015 Paris attacks as well as the 2016 Nice attack He was a leading proponent of EU mandatory migrant quotas and NATOs 2011 military intervention in Libya He also sent troops to Mali and the Central African Republic with the approval of the UN Security Council in order to stabilise those countries two operations however largely seen as failures He drew controversy among his leftwing electoral base for supporting the Saudi Arabianled intervention in Yemen Under Hollandes presidency Paris hosted the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference and his efforts to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the city were successful However with domestic troubles in particular due to Islamic terrorism over the course of his tenure and unemployment rising to 10 he faced spikes and downturns in approval rates ultimately making him the most unpopular head of state under the Fifth Republic On 1 December 2016 he announced he would not seek reelection in the 2017 presidential election for which polls suggested his defeat in the first round Source Article François Hollande from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30