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FACTBOX: Candidates lining up for French election
(Reuters) - Jacques Chirac says he will not seek a third mandate in the forthcoming French presidential election.
All candidates have now declared and have until March 16 to find 500 elected officials to sponsor their bid and enable them to stand.
Below is a list of certain candidates and those still hoping to gather enough backing to stand.
DECLARED CANDIDATES WITH 500 SIGNATURES
NICOLAS SARKOZY: 52. Interior minister and head of the ruling UMP party, Sarkozy is tough on illegal immigration, pro-American and favors a mix of interventionist and free-market economic policies.
SEGOLENE ROYAL: 53. Royal hopes to become France's first woman president. Critics say she relies more on image than substance and she has struggled to revive her campaign. Supporters say she breathes life into male-dominated politics.
FRANCOIS BAYROU: 55. A pro-European centrist, Bayrou has surged higher in the polls as voters rally to his vision of a grand coalition government. He is now a genuine contender.
MARIE-GEORGE BUFFET: 57. A former minister of youth affairs, Buffet is head of the Communist Party, much weakened since the end of the Cold War. She has barely registered in the polls.
GERARD SCHIVARDI: A little-known leftist, anti-EU mayor.
DECLARED CANDIDATES WITHOUT 500 SIGNATURES YET
JEAN-MARIE LE PEN: 78. The far-right veteran stunned France in 2002 by reaching the run off. This is his fifth bid for the presidency and he is convinced he'll repeat his 2002 shock, but is struggling for his sponsorship and is becalmed in the polls.
ARLETTE LAGUILLER: 66. Laguiller is a Trotskyist who first ran in 1974. She helped sink Socialist Lionel Jospin in 2002 by gaining 5.7 pct of vote but is struggling to make headway now.
OLIVIER BESANCENOT: 32. Head of France's second major Trotskyist party, Besancenot, known as the "little red postman" after his job, won 4.25 pct in 2002.
DOMINIQUE VOYNET: 48. A former environment leader who is struggling to hold her fractious Greens party together.
JOSE BOVE: 53. A farmer activist and anti-globalization militant. Struggling to get sponsorship and poll backing.
PHILIPPE DE VILLIERS: 57. Aristocratic, father of seven who heads the far-right Movement for France party.
FREDERIC NIHOUS: 39. Head of the Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions party.
NICOLAS DUPONT-AIGNAN: 46. Low profile member of the UMP who quit the party on Saturday citing deep differences with Sarkozy.
Other politicians have said they want to run but they either have little chance of sponsorship, or no chance of winning many votes.
