News / France

Sarkozy says he will run for French presidential election in 2017

Monday, 22 August 2016 4:16 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 22 August 2016 5:24 PM ]

This June 26, 2016 file photo shows Former French president and head of the right-wing opposition party "Les Republicains" (The Republicans) Nicolas Sarkozy delivering a speech in western France. (AFP photo)

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has formally declared his decision to run for the next presidential election which will be held next year.

Sarkozy said Monday that he had felt the need to run again for the presidency in the historically tough time that France is facing.

“I've felt I had the force to wage this battle at a so tormented time of history,” Sarkozy said in an extract of a book released on his Facebook page and Twitter account, adding, “I have decided to be a candidate to the 2017 presidential election.”

The 61-year-old politician, who lost the presidential election to Francois Hollande in 2012 after his first term, has to win the primaries organized by the French right in November before he can stand an election. His main rival is Alain Juppe, former prime minister and the favorite in the polls.

His aides said that he would be stepping down as the leader of the Republicans party to focus on his campaign.

Sarkozy is expected to lead a campaign on hardline ideas and confrontation with issues like immigration and security as France has been reeling from a spate of terror attacks recently.

“The next five years will be filled with danger but also with hope," he wrote in the foreword for his new book which is expected to be released Wednesday.

The former conservative leader, who had made no secret of his ambition to return to France’s top job, said defending French identity, restoring lost competitiveness and enforcing state authority were among his major challenges.

He said the “top battle” for the French in the coming year would be how “to defend our lifestyle without being tempted to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world.”

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