Sarkozy to run

Sarkozy

Wauquiez Nicolas Sarkozy launched a bid Monday to win back the French presidency, announcing he would seek his party’s nomination to run in next year’s election.

The pugnacious 61-year-old conservative, who in 2012 ended a five-year term mired in unpopularity, had made no secret of his ambition to reconquer the top office.

“I have decided to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election,” Sarkozy wrote in a new book, “Tout pour la France” (All for France), due out this week.

“France demands that you give her your all. I feel I have the strength to lead the fight at such a turbulent moment in our history,” he wrote in an extract seen by AFP, alluding to the terror attacks that have rocked the country since January 2015.

“The next five years will be filled with danger but also with hope.”

Sarkozy’s aides told AFP he would step down on Monday as the leader of the centre-right Republicans to focus on his bid.

Laurent Wauquiez, from the party’s right wing, is expected to take the helm.

Party primaries take place on November 20 and 27. Sarkozy’s first campaign stop will be on Thursday at Chateaurenard, near the southern French city of Avignon.

Sarkozy itemised major challenges in the years ahead, including strengthening respect for “French identity,” restoring lost competitiveness and enforcing state authority. (AFP)