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Strauss-Kahn: no plan for presidential election

Xinhua, September 19, 2011

• Former Chief of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn admitted a "moral fault" in the U.S. sex scandal and said no plan for 2012 presidential election of France during an interview on Sunday night.

  Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair leave the apartment where they are staying in New York on July 2, his first full day of freedom from house arrest. [Jessica Rinaldi/Agencies]

  It's "a moral fault," he said, referring to the case charging him with sexual assault against a hotel maid. However, the former IMF chief insisted he had not forced the maid with violence.

  The televised interview with French TV TF1 was the first of Strauss-Kahn after the case was dropped by U.S. prosecutors on August 23. He expressed apology for his conduct citing harms to his family and supporters but didn't hide resentment against the accuser.

  Moreover, Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist veteran and ex-minister for economy and industry ministry, ruled out the role of candidate in the coming presidential election in the first half of 2012. "I wanted to be a candidate, but that is behind me. I am not a candidate for anything. I will take time to reflect," he said to TF1 channel.

  Once the favorite candidate and promising front-runner in 2012 election, Strauss-Kahn's fame was totally ruined by the sexual scandal in the United States, which was followed by a domestic accusation from a French writer Tristane Banon.

  According to a poll published by the Journal Du Dimanche on Sunday, 53 percent of the responders said they want to hear the announcement of Strauss-Kahn's receding from French politics in the TV interview.

  Implying a continuing role in domestic politics and international stage, Strauss-Kahn still faces a civil law suit by U.S. accuser Nafissatou Diallo and the outcome of the investigation demanded by French accuser Banon.

   

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