French Defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee palace on October 14, 2015 in Paris. (AFP)
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will stand for regional elections in northwest France in December, meaning a possible departure from the cabinet, his staff said today.
President Francois Hollande said at the start of his term in 2012 that ministers would not be allowed to juggle multiple political jobs, so Le Drian is expected to quit as defence minister if he wins the campaign in Brittany.
Le Drian is standing at the head of the Socialist list for the regional poll, though the party is expected to perform poorly as voters punish its weak economic performance.
"He will remain minister of defence for the duration of the campaign," said a member of Le Drian's staff.
Le Drian has played a high-profile role during Hollande's presidency, building close relations with several African and Gulf leaders, and overseeing major military interventions in Mali, the Central African Republic, Iraq and Syria.
He has also been central to France's multi-billion-euro sales of military equipment to regimes including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the first-ever export of its Rafale fighter jet.
Rumours have also been circulating in the media that another government heavyweight, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, 69, may take over the presidency of the Constitutional Council in the new year, meaning he would also have to leave the Cabinet.