French President François Hollande said on Friday he would stay in office until the end of his mandate in 2017 despite his record low opinion poll ratings, and defended himself vigorously against a suggestion he disliked the poor, reports Yahoo! News.
Hollande is on the defensive as his approval ratings hit ever lower levels in a stalling economy, dissent builds within his Socialist Party, and critics raise the possibility of calling a general election.
"I was elected for five years by the French people. I am half way through my mandate," he told a news conference after a NATO summit.
"There is no poll, as difficult as it may be... that can interrupt the mandate the people have given to the president of the Republic," he said when asked whether he might bring an early end to his own presidency given the fragile state of the economy, high unemployment and his unpopularity.
Further cementing his status as France's least popular post-war president, Hollande's approval rating hit a record low 13 percent in August, according to a poll published on Thursday.
A poll published on Friday by Ifop for Le Figaro newspaper found that Hollande, who took power in 2012, would lose a second-round head-to-head presidential vote to extreme-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
"My duty is not to yield in the face of I don't know what pressure," Hollande told journalists. "It's to resolve the big questions facing France and I won't stray from my responsibility."
France's economy has seen zero growth this year so far and unemployment has reached record levels, standing at 10.2 percent in the second quarter.
Hollande has reshuffled his government twice since May, and this week, after the poll was taken, his ex-partner published a book that said he made fun of poor people in private.
Read more of this Reuters report published by Yahoo! News.