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Rumours abound about Nicolas Sarkozy’s political return

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has broken his silence since resigning from the country’s top constitutional body on Thursday night. He has called on the French public to support him and his UMP party, after it was found he exceeded his campaign spending limits in 2012. His public move is one that many observers say is the beginnings of a political return.

Reuters/Francois Lenoir
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Sarkozy’s call for financial help for his UMP party has already brought in more than 900,000 euros, a party source said on Saturday morning. This is only counting donations made online, while the same source said more donations through the post were expected.

UMP treasurer Catherine Vautrin calculated that if each registered UMP member donated 35 euros, the party could reach the money they will lose from the Council.

The donations come following Sarkozy’s resignation from France’s Constitutional Council, a position all former presidents hold. The court found that Sarkozy surpassed his 2012 campaign spending limits by 2.1 percent, which means he will not be eligible for the traditional state reimbursement – a sum of nearly 11 million euros.

The decision by the court pushed Sarkozy to resign immediately.

Sarkozy’s subsequent Facebook message has sent the French media into a frenzy, with allusions to the fact that him breaking the silence means a political return is imminent. It has been suspected that Sarkozy would return to politics ever since he lost to François Hollande in the 2012 presidential election, although he has still not yet clearly announced his bid.

On his Facebook page, Sarkozy said he wanted “freedom” to speak out and hoped to be able to "guarantee freedom of democratic expression in our country.” The message was followed by a demand to the public to help the struggling UMP party.

The French media speculate that a big TV or newspaper interview will follow Sarkozy’s reappearance on the political scene, as his supporters say he is being increasingly victimised.

Sarkozy is implicated in a number of corruption scandals, where he faces allegations of using funds from L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to fund his 2007 presidential campaign. He has also been named in the trial of French businessman Bernard Tapie, over accusations of organised fraud, as well as funding his political campaign in the 1990’s through illegal kickbacks from arms sales to Pakistan.

 

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