FRANCE’S EMBATTLED EX-PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy chose to announce his long-awaited political comeback on Facebook, this afternoon.

“I am a candidate for the presidency of my political family,” the former centre-right UMP party president wrote, which will raise speculation that he is planning a new political movement.

I propose, within three months, to create the conditions for a new and vast movement which will engage with all French people, without the partisan spirit and traditional divisions which no longer apply today.

I love France too much.

I am too passionate about public debate and the future of my compatriots to see them condemned to choose between the appalling spectacle of the present, and the prospect of isolation without end.

Since Sarkozy was defeated for re-election by the Socialist leader Francois Hollande in May 2012, speculation has been rife as to how and when he would attempt a spectacular political comeback.

He has been hampered, however,  by a series of legal battles – including corruption charges, spying claims, and allegations that he accepted millions of euros in cash from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy’s chances of leading the French right into the 2017 presidential election will be helped, though, by in-fighting and weak leadership of the main opposition UMP party that he led to power in 2007.

If, as expected, he carries the centre-right mantle in 2017, Sarkozy will have to contend with a strong challenge from the far-right in the form of National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

His successor, Francois Hollande, has endured historically-low approval ratings as the French economy remains stubbornly stagnant, and could be vulnerable to a coup from within the Socialist party, if his leadership does not improve by 2017.

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