France's Sarkozy back with a chance in presidential primaries
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PARIS - For months, his main rival, Alain Juppe, was all the rage while he was dubbed "the Napoleon of supermarkets" by a left-wing news magazine as he toured malls signing copies of his book.
But now former president Nicolas Sarkozy has crept back into contention to become the conservative candidate in France's 2017 presidential election, overtaking Juppe among core supporters of their Les Republicains party.
The abrasive 61-year-old, who lost his re-election bid to Socialist Francois Hollande in 2012 after disenchanting both free-market reformers and leftists during his five-year term, is still less popular than Juppe among all centre-right voters but the gap has narrowed.
