French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party lost a parliamentary by-election in an ultra-safe conservative seat on Sunday amid a scandal over alleged illegal campaign donations, according to Reuters. Green candidate Anny Poursinoff, backed by the opposition Socialists, beat the UMP incumbent in the Rambouillet constituency southwest of Paris by 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent on a very low 26.8 percent turnout. The vote highlighted Sarkozy's record unpopularity following allegations, denied by Sarkozy and his campaign treasurer, that France's richest woman and her late husband made a big illegal cash donation to his 2007 election campaign. The UMP retains a comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament.
