France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy looks set to become chairman of his right-wing UMP party in Saturday’s vote to choose a new leader - but a narrow lead could yet hamper his presidential ambitions.Winning the ballot, which will be decided by the UMP’s 268,000 party members, means 59-year-old Sarkozy would become the official head of France’s main conservative parliamentary opposition group.It doesn’t mean he will automatically become the UMP’s presidential candidate in the 2017 election – that's due to be decided in a party primary in 2016. But chairmanship will be a solid first step towards that goal.Sarkozy will need a strong majority if he is to overcome bitter divisions within the UMP and the threat of an increasingly popular far-right National Front (FN)party – and his lead has been upset by a surprise performance by rival Bruno Le Maire, a former minister who says he wants to “breathe new life” into the UMP.Party members say Le Maire ran a better campaign and he is expected to take around 30 percent of the vote. The other candidate is lawmaker Hervé Mariton, who looks set to take just 2-3 percent. News 24
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