Marine Le Pen, the National Front leader, with an underwear model at the Made in France fair in Paris

Nicolas Sarkozy’s battle to win back the French presidency could end prematurely tomorrow with his elimination in a national vote to select the candidate for the centre-right Republicans party.

The former leader, 61, is locked in a three-way race, squeezed between Alain Juppé, the long-standing favourite, and François Fillon, who served as the prime minister under Mr Sarkozy.

After starting a distant third, Mr Fillon has caught up with his former boss and polls show they are level with about 30 per cent of the vote going into the first bout of the two-round election. Mr Juppé is on 31 per cent.

The candidates who can stop Marine Le Pen

The vote, which is open to any registered voter, will whittle down seven candidates to two for a run-off on November 27. Tens