France's main centre-right opposition UMP party general secretary, Jean-Francois Cope (C) flanked by team campaign member, Michele Tabarot (L) and Luc Chatel (3rdL), speaks to the press after the announcement of his victory in a battle for the leadership of the opposition right-wing UMP party, on November 19, 2012 at the party's headquarters in Paris a day after the election. Jean-Francois Cope edged former prime minister Francois Fillon to succeed Nicolas Sarkozy as the leader of France's right-wing opposition UMP party after a bitterly contested election, the party's internal polling commission said today. Cope, the party's firebrand secretary-general, defeated Fillon by 98 votes, the head of the electoral commission said, a day after an election in which around 175,000 votes were cast. AFP PHOTO MEHDI FEDOUACH
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