THIONVILLE (France) - A FRENCH member of parliament, distraught over losing his post of mayor in elections, shot his mistress dead on Monday before turning the gun on himself, police said.

Mr Jean-Marie Demange, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party, killed the woman in her house in Thionville, where he was mayor for 13 years before losing to a Socialist in elections eight months ago.

The 65-year-old medical specialist had a heated argument with the woman, aged 46, before shooting her on the balcony of her appartment, a witness said.

'I heard screams and then saw the woman come out on the balcony,' said neighbour Rene Rio. 'He beat her for at least 10 minutes' and 'shot her at point-blank range in the head.

'When she collapsed, he went back into the flat. Then I heard a shot,' said Mr Rio.

Mr Demange's friends said he was distraught since he no longer was mayor of Thionville, a town of 47,000 in eastern France, and had taken it as a serious personal failure.

The deputy, a member of the parliament's foreign affairs commission, was also in the middle of a divorce.

In France, elected officials can hold more than one mandate in public office.

Parliamentary speaker Bernard Accoyer expressed his 'profound sadness' over this 'gesture of despair'. -- AFP