Family pressure may have persuaded Hollande not to stand
PARIS - It was nine minutes into his speech on Thursday evening that Francois Hollande dropped the bombshell that only a few members of his inner circle knew was coming. He would not, after all, seek a second term as president of France.
Confounding most expectations, he was acknowledging that to stand would be bad for his Socialist party's already slim chances of victory next year.
Sources close to Hollande told Reuters that only a tiny handful of people knew of his decision, and they learned by telephone just hours before he went before the television cameras.
According to a close friend, lawyer Pierre Mignard, opposition from his children and their mother, the energy minister Segolene Royal, might have helped tip him over the edge.
