Paris, Oct 23 (DPA) The 23-year-old son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy late Thursday dropped his controversial candidacy to head the public body that manages Europe’s largest business district, La Defense.
“I don’t want any suspicion. I don’t want a victory with suspicions attached,” Jean Sarkozy told France 2 television after declaring he would not be a candidate for chairman of the board of directors of EPAD.

Sarkozy said he was still a candidate to become a member of the board, the election for which takes place Friday, but he would not stand for the chairmanship Dec 4.

Sarkozy’s candidacy had provoked an outcry among opposition politicians, who accused his father, the president, of nepotism.

Situated in the western suburbs of Paris, La Defense is Europe’s largest business district and home to the headquarters of some 2,500 companies.

Critics said that Jean Sarkozy, who has completed only two years of law school, was too young and inexperienced to fill such an important post.

Those who raised these objections included members of Sarkozy’s UMP party, some of whom have qualified the move as a blunder.

Jean Sarkozy said Thursday that he had been the target of a “campaign of manipulation and disinformation,” and that he decided to drop his candidacy to dispel any “suspicions of favoritism.”

However, he declared, “My candidacy was totally legitimate.”

He also said the decision to drop the candidacy was his own, but that he had talked about it with his father, “not as president, but as a father.”

Nicolas Sarkozy had defended his son, saying he was being “thrown to the wolves” and that his youth was an advantage.

“Is there an age for being competent? I wish for a rejuvenation of our political elites, who have really aged,” Sarkozy senior had said.

He also charged that critics of his son were actually going after him.

“Who is targeted by this controversy? It’s not my son. It’s me,” Sarkozy told the daily Le Figaro.

While many French conservatives will be relieved by the decision, the move will no doubt be regarded as a major climbdown by the president, who may have seen the limits of his power, both in the country and within his own party.