A botched vote in France's newly elected parliament on Friday triggered allegations of ballot-stuffing, with politicians from the left and right pointing to possible fraud.
After two and a half hours of voting for the post of the National Assembly's deputy speakers, the ballot boxes were found to contain 10 envelopes more than the number of eligible voters.
Re-elected speaker Yael Braun-Pivet from President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party duly declared a re-run, prompting deputies to demand an investigation.
"Shame on those who committed this fraud," socialist lawmaker Jerome Guedi thundered in the chamber.
Vincent Jeanbrun, a senior figure in the right-wing Les Republicains party, said there was a "suspicion of ballot box-stuffing".
The claims sparked angry exchanges in the chamber, with centrist deputy Jean-Rene Cazeneuve bemoaning the scenes.
"I'm a bit saddened by the spectacle we're putting on," he told journalists.
In the end the six deputy speakers were elected after a new two-round vote.
The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine le Pen failed to keep its two outgoing candidates in their positions.
The posts eventually went to Nadege Abomangoli and Clemence Guette of the far-left France Unbowed, returning centre-right Horizons group deputy Naima Moutchou, Macron ally and outgoing industry minister Roland Lescure, as well as centre-right lawmakers Annie Genevard and Xavier Breton.
An inconclusive election early this month left France without any clear path to forming a new government, with seats in the 577-strong lower house divided between three similarly sized blocs.
A broad leftwing alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP), which unexpectedly topped the July 7 run-off but fell well short of an absolute majority, has more than 190 seats in the National Assembly.
That fractious grouping of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the France Unbowed wants to run the government but has yet to agree on a prospective candidate for prime minister.
Macron's camp has 164 lawmakers and the far-right RN 143.
The president called the snap election hoping to "clarify" France's political situation after the RN trounced his party in the European Parliament polls in early June.
Instead, the country faces the prospect of weeks, maybe months, without a government, while the competing political factions attempt to horse-trade their way to a majority.