Less than four months after he announced (what he hoped would be) his triumphal return to politics, the hopes of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy have imploded, as a result of a poor showing in today's first presidential primary in France in which the conservatives will pick their candidate for president.

As the Tribune de Geneve writes, "ever since 2012, Sarkozy only dreamed of only one thing: his revenge. To be re-elected president in 2017. But tonight, it is the voters of right and center that have eliminated Nicolas Sarkozy." Citing early exit polls, the publication writes that the former president did not succeed in convincing his "political family" that he was the man that France needs to bring change. The first exit polls show Sarkozy in third spot, with only 24% of the vote in today's French primary, behind both Juppe and Fillon.