Nicolas Sarkozy to run for president in 2017

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has announced his presidential comeback bid, declaring he intends to stand in France’s 2017 election.

Sarkozy, 61, was unseated from the Elysée Palace at the last election, in 2012, by the now deeply unpopular François Hollande, and had been widely expected to try to win back office.

“I have decided to be a candidate for the 2017 presidential election. I felt I had the strength to lead this battle at a troubled time in our history,” Sarkozy wrote on social media before the publication on Wednesday of a book called Everything for France.

A hyperactive and divisive figure both loved and loathed among rightwing voters, Sarkozy did not say whether he would join the conservative Les Républicains party primaries scheduled for November. More than a dozen contenders are vying for the party ticket as candidate, including Sarkozy’s rival Alain Juppé.

Sarkozy had done little to conceal his desire to return to power since taking the helm of France’s main rightwing party in late 2014, but two months ago trailed Juppé in opinion polls.