Can Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the most polarising figures in modern French politics, who was dumped by voters after just one term as president, reinvent himself as the healer of the fractured French nation?
After just two years spent wandering the political desert following his defeat by Francois Hollande in 2012 the conservative ex-leader has announced a comeback bid.
The announcement comes as no surprise.
“He never went away,” is the reaction of many in France, who point to the steady stream of interviews given by the 59-year-old politician over the past two years as proof he has been waiting in the wings for his moment.
As far back in June 2013, less than a year after losing the election, Sarkozy was talking up his comeback as something he would have to do “not out of desire” but “out of duty” to save the country from the clutches of the far-right National Front.
The only unknown factors were the how and when.
Sarkozy’s lieutenants had suggested he would wait until 2015 before riding back to the rescue in the manner of a General de Gaulle, returning from retirement in 1958 to pull France back from the brink of a civil war.
In the end he settled for a less spectacular return.
Instead of directly announcing a bid for president in 2017 Sarkozy announced his candidacy for the leadership of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in November.
The UMP leadership has been vacant since May, when Jean-Francois Cope resigned over a scandal involving millions of euros of overspending by Sarkozy’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Sarkozy, who has denied any knowledge of the affair, vowed to end a bout of fierce factional fighting within the party and create a “new and vast gathering that would speak to all the French”.
The party leadership is seen as merely offering him a springboard for the presidency.
In a primetime television interview recently Sarkozy cast himself as a would-be saviour of both party and country.
“I have never seen such despair, I have never seen such anger, I have never seen such a lack of prospects,” he said, looking pained as he painted the picture of a nation in ruins two years after Hollande came to office.
Given the choice between “the humiliating spectacle we have today and the prospect of total isolation which is that of the National Front,” he had “no choice” but to offer an alternative, he said with a resigned air.
The man who was dubbed Speedy Sarkozy because of his impetuous style admitted to past mistakes. With age came “wisdom and perspective”, he assured.
With polls showing nearly two-thirds of voters opposing Sarkozy’s return, the pugilistic ex-president has, however, a hill to climb to win back hearts and minds.
