Nicolas Sarkozy is set to again make an audacious bid to become the President of France for the second time in 2017, it has emerged.
Bruno Le Maire, his former agriculture minister, is said to have heard the former head of state claim ‘moral’ reasons for a return to high office.
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It comes despite the fact that the 57-year-old conservative, who lost the presidential election in May after five years in power, is facing corruption enquiries in France.
“Given the disastrous state in which France risks finding itself in five years’ time, I will have no choice in 2017,” Sarkozy was quoted as saying.
“The question is not whether I return, but whether I have a choice morally in regards to France not to return. Morally I can not discard the French,” he added.
Sarkozy’s such confidence will raise eyebrows among those who believe that Sarkozy’s electoral defeat to the Socialist Francois Hollande was indicative of how little he achieved.
Sarkozy is also facing corruption allegations about being illegally funded by Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oreal cosmetics heiress and France’s richest woman, who may have made two payments to his 2007 election campaign.
There are also compelling claims that Sarkozy received millions of pounds in illegal funding from Colonel Gaddafi.
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