PARIS, France, Aug 18, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - France's influential justice minister Gerald Darmanin has endorsed centre-right candidate Edouard Philippe as the next president and pledged not to stand himself, boosting the former prime minister in a tight race ahead of the 2027 polls.

With just months until the election of a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, who will have served the maximum two terms in office, candidates on the left, centre and right are jostling for position in what may come down to a face-off against the far-right.

With another centrist ex-premier Gabriel Attal also planning to stand, there are fears that too many candidates close to the Macron camp could dilute the vote and hand the Elysee to far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen at her fourth attempt.

Darmanin, a protege of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, who served as budget minister, interior minister and now justice minister under Macron, was himself once seen as a potential candidate but he has thrown his weight behind Philippe.

"The public interest is not served by multiplying the number of candidacies," Darmanin told Tuesday's edition of La Voix du Nord regional daily.

"We are in an extremely difficult situation -- socially difficult -- for the French people. Therefore, I have decided not to add to the division. I will not run in the presidential election and will instead support Edouard Philippe -- and I hope everyone else does the same," he added.

Philippe, who was Macron's first prime minister from 2017-2020 and is now mayor of the Le Havre in Normandy, is the best placed centrist candidate, according to polls, to challenge the far right.

A person close to Philippe, asking not to be named, described Darmanin as a "pure political talent" who would be a "spearhead" of the presidential campaign.

Darmanin emphasised the stakes, admitting he believed that the centrist camp was "currently in third place" behind Le Pen and hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon, and so would not be in the run off vote.

On the left, speculation is swirling that former president Francois Hollande may be tempted to stand again, with the Socialist due to publish a book "Unite. New World, New Left" in September.

Adding further complications, Le Monde daily reported this weekend that the Elysee under Macron is concerned that neither Philippe nor Attal may be able to overcome Le Pen and was considering if current premier Sebastien Lecornu could be a more viable candidate.