Newly-elected president of the right-wing UMP opposition party, Jean-Francois Cope, gives a press conference on November 21, 2012 at the UMP's headquarters in Paris. Former French prime minister Francois Fillon, who lost by just 98 votes to Nicolas Sarkozy's close ally Jean-Francois Cope in Sunday's vote, said the count did not include ballots cast in some of France's overseas territories which would have handed him victory. Cope, a fiery and famously ambitious right-winger known for flirting with the far-right, rejected any talk of overturning the results and called for the party to unite under his banner.