France election: Nicolas Sarkozy says he is quitting politics for good

Brice Hortefeux, his former interior minister and old friend said: “Nicolas
is exhausted.”

The prospect of a new life for Mr Sarkozy was reportedly welcomed by his wife,
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy who has publicly fretted her husband was “working
himself to death.”

Others worried that the sudden drop in the workaholic leader’s gruelling
schedule could be disastrous for his mental wellbeing, in particular when it
sinks in that his defeat was as much to do with French rejection of his
personality as his politics.

“It’s an ordeal,” a friend told Le Parisien. “The falling out
of love of the French will be worse than his divorce with Cécilia (his
second wife who he left him for her lover while in office). It wouldn’t
surprise me if he goes through a small depression,” she said.

Alain Minc, one of his closest friends and advisers said he expected him to “do
conferences like Tony Blair,” referring to the former Prime Minister’s
lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit.

With a bitter leadership duel shaping up between UMP chief Jean-François Copé
and Prime Minister François Fillon, the vanquished president warned his camp
yesterday that a bloodbath before the June parliamentary ballot would be
catastrophic for the Right.

“Stick together, don’t fight,” he told UMP chiefs. “If you are
divided, nobody will exist anymore.”

The UMP risks seeing its parliamentary majority crumble in elections in June,
as the Left reaps seats in the wake of its presidential victory. The UMP
also faces stiff competition from the far-Right National Front, whose leader
Marine Le Pen came third in the presidential election with 18 per cent. Her
party stands to win a handful of seats in June but could fatally sap support
from the mainstream right in hundreds of constituencies.

Right-wingers warn that a Socialist majority would leave the Left with all the
levers of power, as it already runs 21 out of 22 regions, a majority of town
halls, and the Senate.

Despite Mr Sarkozy’s call for unity, cracks were already appearing between
defenders and critics of Mr Sarkozy’s failed campaign strategy of wooing the
NF electorate.

“By validating the National Front agenda, or giving the feeling of
validating it, we lost points,” said Chantal Jouanno, UMP senator, who
blamed Mr Copé for encouraging the immigration and security bias.

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