Sarkozy: I’ll quit politics if I lose power

PARIS: The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said he will leave politics if he loses in the forthcoming presidential elections.
The disclosure came in a report in Le Monde newspaper which suggested that Sarkozy had been talking to ‘friends’ about life after power. “If I lose, I will give up politics. Yes, that’s a certainty,” he was quoted as saying.“I will rebuild my life. You will never hear of me again.”
But it later emerged that the ‘friends’ were journalists to whom the president had spoken off the record during a visit last weekend.
Despite poor opinion-poll ratings, officially Sarkozy remains confident of winning a second term. He believes the opinion-poll lead of Socialist candidate, FranAois Hollande, will “melt away” in February.
(The Independent)