</head> <body> BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - A far-right candidate beat France's ruling Socialist party on Sunday to a place in a by-election run-off vote, reducing the government's slim parliamentary majority and highlighting the rise of the National Front. The seat, vacated by former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned after admitting to holding a previously undeclared Swiss bank account, will now be contested by the National Front and the main conservative opposition UMP party, after the Socialist candidate received only 23.69 percent of the vote. The UMP's Jean-Louis Costes came first in Sunday's first round with 28.71 percent, followed by the National Front's Etienne Bousquet-Cassagne with 26.04 percent. Turnout in the village of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, 130 km (80 miles) southeast of Bordeaux, was just 46 percent, down from 57.7 percent in 2012. The Socialist party, which rules in a coalition with the Greens, has an outright majority in France's lower chamber, but that majority will now be down to three. (Reporting by Claude Canellas; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) </body> </html> </DataContent> </ContentItem> </NewsComponent> </NewsComponent> </NewsItem> </NewsML>

%xhtml; ]> 20130616T213135+0000 reuters.com 20130616 RTROPT_2013-06-16_21-31-35_BRE95F0HY 1 urn:newsml:reuters.com:20130616:RTROPT_2013-06-16_21-31-35_BRE95F0HY:1 2013-06-16 21:31:35 GMT+00:00 20130616T213135+0000 20130616T213135+0000 OLRTXT Online Report text item EUROP Europe POL 11000000 Government / Politics VOTE 11003000 Elections / Voting BRIB 02012006 Corruption / Bribery / Embezzlement WEU Western Europe FR France BRE95F0HY Bangalore IN India 2013-06-16T213135Z_1_BRE95F0HY_RTROPTT_0_OUKWD-UK-FRANCE-POLITICS-BYELECTION.XML Far-right candidate pushes out Socialist in French by-election Bangalore India16 June 2013 REUTERS (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp OUKWD-UK-FRANCE-POLITICS-BYELECTION OUKWD-UK-FRANCE-POLITICS-BYELECTION:Far-right candidate pushes out Socialist in French by-election </head> <body> BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - A far-right candidate beat France's ruling Socialist party on Sunday to a place in a by-election run-off vote, reducing the government's slim parliamentary majority and highlighting the rise of the National Front. The seat, vacated by former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned after admitting to holding a previously undeclared Swiss bank account, will now be contested by the National Front and the main conservative opposition UMP party, after the Socialist candidate received only 23.69 percent of the vote. The UMP's Jean-Louis Costes came first in Sunday's first round with 28.71 percent, followed by the National Front's Etienne Bousquet-Cassagne with 26.04 percent. Turnout in the village of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, 130 km (80 miles) southeast of Bordeaux, was just 46 percent, down from 57.7 percent in 2012. The Socialist party, which rules in a coalition with the Greens, has an outright majority in France's lower chamber, but that majority will now be down to three. (Reporting by Claude Canellas; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) </body> </html> </DataContent> </ContentItem> </NewsComponent> </NewsComponent> </NewsItem> </NewsML>