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France

Right wins two French by-elections

France’s Socialist government suffered a setback in two by-elections this weekend. The right-wing UMP and UDI parties won both seats for expatriates but only 14 per cent of potential voters cast their ballots in one of the constituencies.

Frenchh President François Hollande in Japan last week
Frenchh President François Hollande in Japan last week Reuters/Issei Kato
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UMP leader Jean-François Copé declared the results a condemnation of President François Hollande’s policies.

But Socialist Party official Christophe Borgel claimed that “by-elections are never easy for governments in power at the time” and pointed to a “historic” abstention rate of 86 per cent in the north America constituency where UMP member Frédéric Lefebvre won.

Standing for former ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo's UDI,  Meyer Habib won a constituency covering French citizens living in Cyprus, Israel, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

Habib is vice-president of the Jewish organisation, Crif.

In spite of the results, the Socialists keep their absolute majority in parliament.

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