France’s centre-right UMP party has become embroiled in a fresh scandal over alleged illegal funding of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 election campaign, days after it was badly beaten in European elections by the far right National Front (FN).
The affair underlines the disarray among France’s two traditional leading parties after the FN, led by Marine Le Pen, trounced both the UMP and President François Hollande’s ruling Socialist party in Sunday’s European poll.
The scandal forced the resignation on Tuesday morning of Jean-Francois Copé, UMP president, amid recriminations among rival contenders for the party leadership at a meeting in the French National Assembly.