Sarkozy will Compete for 2017 Presidential Nomination

Former French  President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday that he will compete to win a center-right party nomination as the candidate for the country's 2017 presidential election.

This news has put an end to all speculations that he might call off a party primary, Reuters reports.

Last week, he had made clear that he would be seeking the leadership of the main rightist party - Union for a Populist movement (UMP) - before the next presidential election.

In May 2012, Sarkozy had lost a re-election bid to Socialist President Francois Hollande. According to The Economist, he doesn't have a choice, but to make a political comeback so as to save France from a "humiliating spectacle".

He re-launched his career in politics with a rally near the city of Lille. The rally was held just a day after a court suspended an inquiry into corruption allegations against the former President. He, according to reporters, aimed at wooing young voters who had supported the far right National Front in the European elections held in May, BBC reports.

Half of France is excited about Sarkozy's comeback, while the other half doesn't seem so enthralled, according to media reports.

His former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister had warned that if Sarkozy cancels the primary race as the UMP leader, he would face a "hard conflict".

"There will be (UMP) primaries. With my personality, who could have thought that things would go differently?" Sarkozy said during a speech addressing supporters in Lambersart, a town in northern France.

When he declared on Sept. 21 his return to politics, a poll by Odoxa for Le Parisien, a daily, suggested that 54 percent of France's population did not want him back.