PARIS -- French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, the overwhelming favorite to become president in May, declared his long-expected candidacy Wednesday with a promise to avoid partisan campaigning.


"I am not the candidate of a party," Balladur said on national television. "I want to rally the largest possible number of French people in a spirit of tolerance, openness and respect."


Poll after poll suggest that Balladur is virtually certain to win a seven-year term as successor to President Fran?ois Mitterrand, whose Socialist Party is floundering.


Though a member of the Rally for the Republic, the largest conservative party, Balladu has strong appeal to centrists. He has pulled far ahead of the party's former leader, Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, who feels betrayed by Balladur's decision to seek the presidency.


The first round of voting is April 23. If no one gets an outright majority, the top two vote-getters compete in a runoff on May 7.


Balladur, 65, has been premier since a sweeping conservative victory in parliamentary elections in March 1993. A low-key politician with a patrician manner, he has overseen a modest recovery from a painful recession but has failed to dent France's 12.6 percent jobless rate.


He depicted himself as the leader best placed to lead France into the 21st century. "France mustn't be afraid," he said. "It must believe in itself."


Despite scandals involving three Cabinet ministers and a series of embarrassing policy reversals in the face of public protests, Balladur been one of the most consistently popular premiers ever in France. He holds a commanding lead in the polls over all potential leftist candidates as well as over Chirac.


"If I am a candidate, it's to prepare France to enter the next century with all its forces, prosperous, just, influential," Balladur said. He said France should be "the motor" driving further progress for the European Union -- "progress that is indispensable to our future."


Reaction to Balladur's announcement followed predictable partisan lines. His allies praised the call for national reconciliation, while opponents jeered.


"It's the end of two years of lies, because now everyone knows that the premier has been acting all along only as a candidate," said Jean Glavany, a Socialist spokesman. "There are millions of men and woman on the left who are not resigned to the inevitability of a Balladur victory."


On Tuesday, former Culture Minister Jack Lang became the second Socialist to enter the race, following former Education Minister Lionel Jospin. The Socialists are scheduled to pick their candidate in early February, but are given little chance after the decision by their strongest potential candidate, former European Commission president Jacques Delors, to stay out of the race.