The undeclared race to replace Emmanuel Macron

In a memorable phrase that captured his precocious ambition four years before he ran for the French presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy confessed in 2003 that his mind was focused on the top job and “not only when he shaved” every morning. The comment marked the start of his long and fractious struggle to succeed his boss, Jacques Chirac, which he did in 2007. Today, four years before the French elect a successor to their current president, an undeclared race to take over from Emmanuel Macron is also breaking out among his present and former lieutenants.The French constitution allows a president to serve only two consecutive terms (though after stepping down in 2027, when he will be only 49, Mr Macron could stage another bid five years later). This still leaves him plenty of time to try to reshape France, and he gives no sign of tiring of the job, nor of shrinking ambition. He vowed recently to keep governing “until the last quarter of an hour” of his term.