Returning from the political wilderness, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has taken a big step toward a possible re-election bid by winning the leadership of the country's main conservative party, reports GHN based on Fox News.
Sarkozy had been widely expected to win the Union for a Popular Movement leadership in the vote by party members Saturday. The 59-year-old Gaullist collected 64.5 percent of the vote to defeat former government ministers Bruno Le Maire and Herve Mariton, a margin that some analysts said was below expectations.
Still, the victory advances Sarkozy's hopes of running in the 2017 presidential race, and cements his return to the political scene after all but disappearing following his loss to Socialist Francois Hollande in the presidential election over two years ago.
The party, known as the UMP, will choose its presidential nominee in two years. Sarkozy has used the UMP leadership as a springboard before: He also won it in 2004 -- with 85 percent of the vote -- and built a ground game that helped propel him to victory in the presidential race three years later.
For the presidential nomination in 2016, he faces two likely rivals: his own prime minister, Francois Fillon, and Alain Juppe, another former premier who was a longtime ally and protege of President Jacques Chirac. The two -- both seen as more even-tempered than the explosive Sarkozy -- were not vying for the party leadership.