Nicolas Sarkozy to run for French presidency in 2017

Former France president Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed he will run again for the country’s highest office, seeking a return to the post he lost to Francois Hollande in 2012.

Sarkozy announced his decision at a meeting of France’s main opposition party, Les Republicains, telling activists that he would be stepping down as their leader to pave the way for the return bid.

Sarkozy is expected to face tough competition against 13 others in his party who have already declared their candidacies.

Les Republicains will announce their candidate following party primaries which take place in November, with his main rival being seen as Alain Juppé, the mayor of Bordeaux and a former Prime Minister, who on Saturday criticised the “confusion between Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the party, and Nicolas Sarkozy, candidate campaigning for the primaries”.

Supporters of Les Republicains and other right and centre-right parties will vote in November to decide who will be their candidate in the 2017 presidential election.

The winner will face the far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen and a Socialist candidate, likely to be Hollande.

Sarkozy would not be able to run in those presidential primaries if he remained head of the party. He would need to resign two weeks before the application deadline on 9 September.

“This national council will be my last one as president of Les Republicains,” Sarkozy said.

“This primary will be a time of competition between some strong personalities, between people of significant talent. “When the right goes into battle it has a front on the left and a front on the extreme right. That is why it is unacceptable that we should attack each other.”

Initially, Sarkozy, 61, had intended o step away from the political front line – especially given the unpopularity his abrasive style had generated among voters.

In 2014 he won the leadership of Les Republicains following a bruising battle with his rivals and over the past few months he has raised his profile further with a series of speeches and publishing a book which has already sold 200,000 copies.

For much of this year centre-right rival Juppe has outpaced Sarkozy in opinion polls, but the man who was president between 2007 and 2012 is making a comeback among party supporters, a recent survey showed, in a sign the battle could be more open than many thought.