The battle to succeed Nicolas Sarkozy as leader of the centre-right UMP party took a farcical turn with both Francois Fillon and rival Jean-Francois Cope claiming the crown. Jean-Francois Cope, the party's firebrand secretary-general, was more than 3000 votes ahead of the moderate Francois Fillon, with some 155000 ballots counted from the election among the party's 300000 members. With the outcome still unclear, the surprise of the night was the higher-than-expected score of Mr Copé, 48, who was expected to finish well behind Mr Fillon, 58. Last night members of the Copé camp in the southern Alpes Maritimes departement claimed the vote had been the victim of "irregularities" - an allegation dismissed as "insulting" by supporters of Mr Fillon. The mood was turning amid claims of voter irregularities, with a possible recount looming in Nice. The tension was reminiscent of the 2008 Socialist Party's leadership contest in which Martine Aubry, the mayor of Lille, beat Ségolène Royal, the one-time presidential candidate by just 42 votes, with both sides complaining of irregularities and threatening legal action. The electoral farce came at what could be tumultuous few days for the centre-Right, as Mr Sarkozy is expected to appear before an anti-corruption judge in Bordeaux any day now. He could be placed under investigation as part of a probe into illegal party funding from France's richest woman, Lilianne Bettencourt. Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk Get the latest headlines www ...
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