French right on verge of collapse as talks fail

[rpannier]

Opposition plunged into an crisis as the two men fighting to lead the party continued to dispute the results of election

France's opposition was plunged into an unprecedented crisis on Monday as the two men fighting to lead the party continued to dispute the results of a botched election.

A second investigation confirmed Jean-François Copé as the new leader of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), the centre-right party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

But his rival, former prime minister François Fillon, immediately rejected the result saying the new count was "illegal" and the UMP appeals committee that produced it was biased in favour of Copé.

Copé, 48, was initially declared winner by a margin of just 98 votes after the ballot of party members eight days ago. Shortly afterwards Fillon, 58, claimed votes from three overseas districts had been "forgotten" and would have given him victory.

For the past week, the two sides have ripped the UMP apart, accusing each other of cheating and election fraud while party heavyweights called for calm and tried to referee the dispute. One French newspaper described it as "live suicide".

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/26/french-right-collapse-talks-fail

Look like there's more than one place that the reich is imploding

[No Elephants]

1. The right is imploding? Boo hoo.

But, to be honest, if I ran for office and thought I won, I would fight too. Even if I stopped caring, I'd feel I owed it to the people who voted for me.

But, I would never run anyway.

[No Elephants]

2. The right is imploding? Boo hoo.

But, to be honest, if I ran for office and thought I won, I would fight too. Even if I stopped caring, I'd feel I owed it to the people who voted for me.

But, I would never run anyway.

[Enthusiast]

3. I'm not sure I understand.

Was the disputed election the equivalence of a U.S. "primary" election?

Either way. Unhappy French right? Sounds good to me. Can we get some of that over here?

[No Elephants]

4. That would require more than one Party with a chance at getting control.

We probably haven't had that since Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, at most, since Carter (whom I do think was both underrated and undermined, but I am willing to be wrong about that).

[bikebloke]

5. Sarko's come back.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sarko uses this for a come back. That's if corruption charges don't catch up with him. But will the mess drive right supporters further right to La Pen?