10 December 2015, 15:45 GMT
PARIS (Sputnik) – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozi has mistakenly recounted an "exceptionally violent" race between current US President Barack Obama and his predecessor George Bush in a newly published memoir.
"The campaign between them was exceptionally violent," reads a factually incorrect excerpt from his memoir "La France pour la vie" ("France for Life"), referring to a fictional presidential race between Bush and Obama.
Up to 100,000 copies of the book went on sale Monday.
Obama was elected 44th US president in November 2008 and assumed office in January 2009, succeeding Bush, who served the full two terms mandated by the US Constitution.
Sarkozy, who served one term in office in 2007-2012, has provoked heated debate online and on social media with the Bush-Obama gaffe.
