PARIS – Prime Minister de Villepin of France survived his second no-confidence vote in three months as lawmakers from his majority Union for a Popular Movement turned back the bid by the Socialists as his popularity plunges.

The motion, introduced by the Socialist leader, Francois Hollande, sought to censure Mr. de Villepin after a series of disclosures in the press referred to by the opposition as France’s Watergate. The motion was supported by 190 lawmakers, short of the 279 majority needed in the 577-member house.

“This affair makes the whole political class look bad,” Jean-Francois Gilles, the chairman of a Paris-based unit of HSBC Holding that manages the equivalent of $9 billion, Louvre Gestion, said.

The vote underscores the damage done to President Chirac’s government and the risks to the front-runner to represent the UMP in the 2007 presidential election, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. A former ally of Mr. Chirac who heads France’s third-largest party, Francois Bayrou, supported the Socialists in the vote along with 11 of his 30 lawmakers.

Mr. Hollande, addressing the chamber, questioned whether political rivals Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. de Villepin can effectively govern together, and told the prime minister his party’s vote is “a sanction on your economic and social choices which have placed you at a record unpopularity.”

Mr. Bayrou said his defection was an objection to a “moral crisis.”

“Is it good for France, all of this decomposition, which prevents any real action and makes French people despair?” he said. “Can it keep going for another year?”

Mr. Chirac, 73, and Mr. de Villepin, 52, have been buffeted by almost daily revelations in the French press, beginning with a report in the newspaper Le Monde April 28, over what has become known as the “Clearstream affair.”

Leaks to the French press about a 2004 investigation into false claims of money-laundering and bribes linked to the sale of warships to Taiwan later morphed into what Mr. Sarkozy claims was a campaign to smear his reputation.

Mr. de Villepin’s popularity reached a record low of 26%, a BVA poll for L’Express weekly showed yesterday. The approval rating fell from 28% a month ago, according to the BVA survey of 1,010 people between May 11 and 13. It peaked in January at 48%.

Not all his party members supported him yesterday. “We need to end this comedy,” a ruling party deputy from Paris, Claude Goasguen, told Le Monde. “If there’s someone who should leave, it’s not Nicolas Sarkozy.” Votes against the motion weren’t permitted by rules, only votes for and abstentions. Mr. Goasguen abstained, he told BFM television.

The uproar stems from a file, later found to have been a fake, purporting to show that politicians including Mr. Sarkozy channeled bribes into illegal bank accounts.

Mr. de Villepin has rejected allegations that he sought to involve Mr. Sarkozy in the 2004 investigation and has dismissed calls that he step down.

“I’ve been the victim of smears and mean-spirited lies,” he said May 2.

Today, Mr. de Villepin defended his record, pointing to the creation of 200,000 jobs since he took office a year ago and saying economic growth this year will exceed 2%.

“While rumors are escalating, we will continue our work, with method, calm, and perseverance,” he said before the vote, calling for “solidarity.”

Mr. Sarkozy, who also heads the ruling party, put an end on May 13 to speculation he will quit the government, telling activists he has “no intention to create the conditions of a political crisis that would only benefit the left and the extremes.”

The interior minister reiterated yesterday on France2 television that he doesn’t plan to leave the government, while saying he would “take action” when the investigation “finds out who is behind” the bank account allegations.

Mr. de Villepin had already been weakened by his retreat from an effort to introduce more flexibility to hiring. More than 1 million people demonstrated on March 28 and April 4 against his proposals, and police used tear gas and water cannons in Paris to disperse gangs of youths who burned cars and beat up some of the demonstrators.

He’d already defeated a first no-confidence motion, introduced by the Socialists over the jobs plan, on February 21.

Mr. Chirac’s former chief of staff and one-time foreign minister is known for leading the opposition to the American led invasion of Iraq, Mr. de Villepin was named to head the government May 31. He replaced Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who quit after voters defeated in a referendum the E.U. constitution.