Ian Langsdon/Reuters
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was knocked out of the country’s presidential primary Sunday, destroying his hopes for a comeback. Sarkozy, who served from 2007-2012, came in third out of seven candidates fighting for a nomination for France’s center-right party. In a humiliating defeat, Sarkozy’s former prime minister, Francois Fillon, came in first. Fillon will now face-off with Alain Juppé in a second vote at the end of the month. Sarkozy had run a campaign that talked tough on Muslims and French identity, vowing to ban the burkini and prohibiting special school lunches for Muslims. He wound up getting just 20 percent of the vote. In a speech after the results came in, 61-year-old Sarkozy hinted that it was time for him to give politics up for good. “It’s time for me to try a life with more private passions than public ones,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. “I feel no bitterness, no sadness, and I wish all the best for my country.”