The former ruling party of France cannot decide on a leader

The most influential opposition party in France, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), found itself in a deep crisis due to the election of the party leadership. Current party leader Jean-François Copé and former prime minister François Fillon declared themselves winners. Its founder, Alain Juppé, is called upon to save the party. Last night he met with the contenders to avoid the worst - a split. With details - Kommersant correspondent in France ALEXEY TARKHANOV.

The UMP, which lost the presidential and parliamentary elections, also failed to elect its leader. The current leader, 48-year-old Jean-François Copé, and the former prime minister of Nicolas Sarkozy's government, 58-year-old François Fillon, are vying for this post. Without waiting for the official vote count, both declared themselves winners. Even if not themselves, but their proxies. Then the results are announced. According to them, Jean-François Copé won by 26 votes. Then the party control commission admits that when counting votes, data from three overseas departments was missing: New Caledonia, Mayotte, Wallis and Futuna. If they had not been forgotten, the results would have been exactly the opposite.

Here each of the candidates declares that “they will not allow their victory to be stolen from them.” Jean-François Copé, an unsurpassed apparatchik, says: “If you don’t like it, go complain to the conflict commission, because only it is authorized to resolve such issues.” François Fillon counters that the commission may be biased (its head, Yanick Paternotte, is an ardent supporter of Mr. Copé), and denounces the “too family-like” squabbles in the party. “The party is not a mafia,” he says.

François Fillon is an experienced politician who is respected by both the right and the left. If he had been nominated for president instead of Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande would not have had to celebrate his victory so easily. François Fillon is being talked about as the main candidate in the 2017 presidential election, and he clearly doesn’t need an ugly story with his own party. Realizing that he was losing face, Mr. Fillon publicly resigned as party leader. Seems like a smart move. But then he spoke in the genre of “don’t let anyone get you,” promising to “achieve the truth” anyway and, if necessary, go to trial. “The honor of my party is at risk,” said Francois Fillon. And he asked for the mediation of Alain Juppé, the founder and honorary chairman of the UMP, the current mayor of Bordeaux: “I ask Alain Juppé to form a commission to overcome the crisis.”

Alain Juppe set several conditions. He demanded that members of the conflict commission, who managed to speak out in favor of one of the candidates, temporarily not participate in its work. His commission, besides himself, will consist of four people: one from each candidate and two independent members, whom he will choose himself with the consent of François Fillon and Jean-François Copé. After this, Alain Juppé promises a solution within two weeks. Francois Fillon agreed to all the conditions. Jean-François Copé - for almost everything except the dissolution of the current commission. The three of them were supposed to meet late last night. In the meantime, Mr. Juppe asked his opponents to at least stop exchanging insults in the media.

UMP's rivals are watching the scandal closely. Socialists remember how, in a similar situation that happened to them in 2008, Jean-François Copé gloated: “All the preconditions are for the Socialist Party to fall apart. Maybe it’s for the better, since they can no longer stand each other,” and they keep silence. But Marine Le Pen is triumphant, reporting on air that UMP supporters ran to her National Front: “I see a ball of hypocrites who, with eyes full of tears, say: “We think about the suffering of party members, about the demoralization of political life,” and through They shout at each other for a second: “crook, thief, swindler!”

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