Following months of speculation, Nicolas Sarkozy, who held office as president from 2007 to 2012, announced on Friday via Facebook, that he will be returning to French politics, initially attempting to lead the center-right Union for a Popular Movement party, which he had headed from 2004 to 2012.

"I am a candidate to be president of my political family," Sarkozy posted on Facebook, attracting more than 23,500 "likes" in under an hour.

"After a lengthy period of reflection, I have decided to offer the French people a new political choice," the 59-year-old wrote.

The former president wrote that he could not "remain a spectator ... given the destruction of political debate and the persistence of the derisory splits within the opposition."

"I love France too much," Sarkozy wrote. "I am too impassioned by public debate and the future of my countrymen to see them forced to choose between the desperate situation of today and the prospect of isolation without a way out."

Following his defeat by the Socialist Francois Hollande in 2012, Sarkozy has largely remained out of the limelight. However, in July, he was charged with corruption and influence peddling related to an alleged attempt to interfere in a judicial case.

Legal questions surrounding the funding of his 2007 and 2012 presidential election campaigns also remain a matter of public interest in France.

Sarkozy's announcement came on the same day that Hollande went on the offensive to defend his presidency after his government narrowly survived a confidence vote on Wednesday.

ksb/mkg (Reuters, AFP, AP dpa)