France’s main conservative opposition party, whose election to find a successor to Nicolas Sarkozy last month left the party in disarray, is to hold a new leadership election next year.
Jean-François Copé and François Fillon both declared themselves the winner of the UMP party’s vote on November 18th and accused the other side of fraud.
After more than a week of discussions Mr Copé and Mr Fillon said they had agreed a deal to end the impasse. Mr Copé will remain as party president until next September, when a new vote of party members will be held. For his part, Mr Fillon, who created a breakaway group in parliament because of the dispute, agreed to bring it back into the UMP fold and not to act on his threat of legal action.
An independent authority will be charged with organising the election and ensuring the candidates receive equal resources from the party.
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