French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that he is seeking reelection.
Macron published a letter in a number of local French newspapers to announce his decision to seek a second term as president.
“I am seeking your trust again. I am a candidate to invent with you, faced with the century’s challenges, a French and European singular response,” Macron said, according to The Guardian.
Macron noted that the race will not be a conventional one because of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, but emphasized that he will “explain our project with clarity and commitment.”
“Of course, I will not be able to campaign as I would have liked because of the context,” Macron said, according to The Guardian.
The incumbent has to obtain 500 signatures from elected officials, which are required for candidates in France by Friday. The first round of elections in the country are April 10, according to CNBC.
Macron was first planning to announce his candidacy on Feb. 26 around the beginning of the Salon de l’Agriculture trade fair, but that plan was nixed.
The French leader was reportedly looking to hold off on entering the race for as long as possible because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.
In his announcement letter, the president wrote, “Rarely has France been confronted with such an accumulation of crises.”
“I am a candidate to defend our values that are threatened by the disruptions of the world,” he added, according to The Post.
A number of candidates are currently in the race for president, including Marine Le Pen, who Macron beat in 2017. Macron secured roughly 66 percent of the vote, and Le Pen received just under 34 percent of the votes cast, The New York Times reported.