IMF chief says could leave early for French politics

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who heads the IMF, said recently he could think about leaving his position early to run for the 2012 presidential elections.

Socialist Strauss-Kahn's term as the head of the lender runs until October 2012. The French elections will be held in the spring of that year.

Asked on France's RTL radio when he would say whether he was interested in being a candidate for the presidency, Strauss-Kahn said: "As it stands, I've always said, I am planning to see out my mandate."

"But if you ask me whether in certain circumstances I could reconsider this question, the answer is yes, I could reconsider this question," he added.

The former economy minister has seen his popularity surge in France since becoming head of the IMF in 2007. He regularly tops polls as the person on the left that the French would most like to see replacing President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Strauss-Kahn's appeal has also been helped by a period of disarray for the Socialists, the main opposition party to Sarkozy's centre right UMP group.

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