The 23-year-old son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday won a seat on a powerful business district board, staying on track for a high-flying political career despite renouncing a bigger post.

Jean Sarkozy had wanted to run the EPAD agency, which manages the La Défense district on the western fringe of Paris, but this caused such a huge outcry that on Thursday night he went on television to say he was dropping the bid.

However, he maintained his candidacy for a place on EPAD's board, and yesterday he was elected by his peers on a council of local representatives from the Hauts-de-Seine administrative district, where La Défense is located.

"It was trying, of course. It's always trying when you are at the centre of controversy. But that's life, it forges your character and your determination," Sarkozy told journalists.

His bid to run EPAD had dominated the public debate in France for two weeks, with critics arguing that an undergraduate law student was unqualified to take responsibility for a corporate hub that generates about 10 per cent of French GDP.

Nicolas Sarkozy was accused of abusing his power by making arrangements for his son to take over a strategic post.

The younger Sarkozy, who is blond and taller than his father but has similar self-assurance, said during his television appearance on Thursday that he was dropping his candidacy because he wanted to remove any suspicion of nepotism.

Yesterday he gave a calm and confident performance during the tense debate that preceded the vote, ignoring heckling from left-wing opposition councillors and lacing his speech with carefully-worded comments that hinted at a broader meaning.

"I will give up none of my ambitions for this business district," he said.