PARIS

In a historic first, an Afro-French politician announced Thursday that she would run in next year’s French presidential election.

Rama Yade, a moderate conservative who served in two different posts in the cabinet of then-President Nicolas Sarkozy, told French radio station RMC that she is launching a presidential campaign with the name "Daring France"

Yade, a Senegalese-born Muslim, said that French politicians should solve the divisions in French society, adding, "We have to rebuild the nation."

She added that the French nation has become racist and discriminatory.

The 39-year-old politician stated that she already has 50,000 supporters for her campaign.

The first round of the French presidential election is set for April 23, 2017 and the second for May 7.

With the election still nearly a year away, recent opinion polls say Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Front party has enough support to make it past the first round.

French media say that Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, both conservatives, could also run.