Vote mix-up kills off region reform

PLANS to redraw the map of France and reduce the number of regions from 22 to 15 have been thrown out after a senator cast a group vote against them by mistake.

The reform, which has already been passed by the National Assembly, would see Picardie and Poitou-Charentes dismantled in 2012, with their departments shared out among neighbouring regions.

Haute and Basse-Normandie would merge, as would Brittany and the Loire-Atlantique; Alsace and Lorraine; Bourgogne and Franche-Comté; and Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne.

However the bill was rejected in the Senate last night due to a mix-up by a Union Centriste senator who was voting on behalf of all of his colleagues.

He voted "yes" thinking he was giving his support to the project, but the vote was on a Communist amendment to the law that proposed scrapping it completely. As a result, the amendment was passed by 167 votes to 156.

UMP and Centrist senators have called an emergency meeting today. They say it is unacceptable that the president of the Senate allowed the vote to stand after the "human error" was pointed out to her.