Former President Sarkozy to compete for 2017 French presidential election

Nicolas Sarkozy

French former president Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election.

"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 his Twitter account.

"The coming five years are those of risk but also of hope," he added in an extract of a book "Everything for France" to be released Wednesday.

The conservative ex-head of state did not say whether he would join the Republican party primaries scheduled for November to book a ticket for the race to the Elysee Palace.

Citing a close source to Sarkozy, BFMTV news channel said he would quit the leadership of the center-right party on Monday to prepare for the presidential primaries.

Contenders for the primaries have to submit their candidacy before Sept. 9.

The winner will face a Socialist candidate and Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front party.

Sarkozy, 61, failed to secure a second mandate in 2012 after losing the runoff to the Socialist leader Francois Hollande. After a two-year break from politics, he came back as leader of the crisis-hit conservative party then known as Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

While Hollande's approval rating is at a record low, Sarkozy is betting on his political credentials and dynamism which earned him in 2007 the highest popularity ratings of any leader since Charles de Gaulle.

Source: Xinhua