Sarkozy returns to politics as opposition party leader

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy who announced comeback to the politics was elected as the opposition party leader on Saturday, laying the foundation for the 2016 presidential election.

At the primary of the center-right Union for Popular Movement (UMP), the main opposition party, held on Friday and Saturday, Sarkozy won with 64.5 percent of the votes to be elected as the party leader, beating his rival Bruno Le Marie, the former agriculture minister. This voting was made via online digital system. The election website was under a cyber attack and the voting was suspended for about an hour. UMP said 58 percent of total 268,000 party members participated in the election.

After serving as the minister for five times and assuming a 5-year term of presidency over 40 years since joining the politics in 1974, Sarkozy has been elected as the main opposition party leader. But political insiders analyze that he is not fully recognized as the next presidential candidate. Sarkozy’s approval rate is quite low, compared to 85.1 percent at the party primary in 2004 when he was the Interior Minister.

French major daily Le Monde said that Sarkozy’s approval rate in the recent party primary, which has decreased by 20 percent from 10 years ago, shows that his magic no longer works, adding that this forecasts a fierce competition inside the right wing. French newspaper Le Figaro picked Bruno Le Marie who won about 40 percent of the vote as a surprising hero, saying that Le Marie drank the toast to celebrate return of Sarkozy.