Deja Vu In France As Sarkozy Sets Up Presidential Rematch

PARIS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -24th Augst,2016) - Nicolas Sarkozy's entry into France's presidential race has compounded a haven't-we-been-here-before feeling in torpid, late-summer Paris. Despite a public yearning for political renewal, the 2017 vote for France's top job is shaping up as a contest between faces that, to many, are drearily familiar. Sarkozy fired the gun on Monday for what may be a deja-vu denouement in the two-round race in April and May. He confirmed he would seek to win back the presidency he lost in 2012 to his despised Socialist rival, Francois Hollande. To run again is unprecedented in modern French history.

Instead of returning to the fray, former heads of state normally leave the political arena and are enshrined as statesmen.

"Never has a former president stood again for the top office," said Frederic Dabi of Ifop polling company, referring to the period since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958. But, true to his iron-clad self-belief, Sarkozy appears undaunted by this slap at tradition. Nor does he seem perturbed by his low popularity among the general public -- or by two ongoing probes into influence-peddling and campaign spending that could badly damage his chances. Sarkozy used publication of a new book to unveil his long-expected announcement. He said he felt he had the "strength" to lead France again, unveiling a series of hardline proposals on security and national identity.