Latest update: 30/03/2011 

- France - François Fillon - French politics - local elections - Nicolas Sarkozy - UMP


Cracks emerge within Sarkozy's UMP party after local election defeat

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Squabbles, division and infighting. France's ruling party, the UMP, is showing the strain after its poor performance in the recent local elections. Sarkozy has had to intervene to stop bickering between his ministers and has ordered them to show a united front ahead of his plans for a national debate on secularism and Islam.

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