Split finalised for French right
Parti Radical's split with UMP voted through by 93% of members, splitting French right, while DSK arrest leaves Socialis
MEMBERS of the Parti Radical have voted overwhelmingly to split with the governing UMP, paving the way for a split in France's right-wing as the left-wing is in disarray after the arrest of leading figure Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Ninety-three per cent of members voted to split with the party and agreed that their leader Jean-Louis Borloo should present himself as a candidate at the next presidential election. Borloo has said he will consider the idea over the summer.
The rupture comes as the party approved plans to "form a republican alliance: ecological and social", signalling that this plan could no longer be achieved through working with the UMP.
The Parti Radical has worked with the UMP since the latter was formed in 2002.
France already counts two centre parties, the MoDem and Nouveau Centre.
With less than a year to go before the French presidential elections, France is seeing an increasingly popular far-right presidential candidate in Marine Le Pen, a split in the right-wing that could further hurt the, already-low, support of President Sarkozy, and the country's most popular Socialist presidential candidate spending his first night in prison on Rikers Island.
Photo: Parti Radical leader Jean-Louis Borloo will decide over the summer if he will run for president (Credt:Medef)
