Leader of France’s National Front says he won’t run for president in 2012

French far right leader won’t run for president

PARIS — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far right National Front, says he will not run in France’s presidential election in 2012.

Le Pen declines to says who should succeed him in an interview with the Le Figaro Magazine that is to appear on newsstands Saturday.

Le Pen has run for president five times, shocking the nation in 2002 when he reached the runoff that former president Jacques Chirac won.

His party is anti-immigrant and recently did well in regional elections.

His daughter, Martine, is considered a possible successor, as is Bruno Gollnisch, one of his closest collaborators in the party.