France local government elections- Macron suffered losses
Greens made gains in the cities amid low turnout
The Sunday
French municipal elections saw a surge for Green Party as president macron’s
party suffered losses. The Socialist Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo retains her mayor
ship and won the reelection. Both the main centre right and centre left parties
failed to put up an impressive show in the local elections.
Green
candidates fared well in many big cities, leading the race in Lyon, Strasbourg
and Grenoble, while a handful of candidates from the far-right National Rally
were re-elected with outright majorities.
French
voters cast their ballots Sunday in nationwide second round of municipal
elections marked by record-low turnout. Only 40% voters turn up for voting at
the polling stations across the country. The elections took place at a time
when France eased the strict lockdown imposed in March. The government imposed stringent
restrictions on public life in an increasingly frantic effort to slow the
progress of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
It is the
delayed second round of municipal elections across France. Like presidential
elections, local elections in France follow a two-round voting process. The
first round was on March 15th but the second - set for March 22nd - was
postponed because of the lockdown. The rescheduled second round takes place on
Sunday, June 28th.
The great
majority of candidates from the president's La Republique en Marche party
failed to make it past the first round of voting and key cities like Paris and
Marseille are widely expected to choose non LREM candidates. The party's goal
is to have 10,000 municipal councilors - a fraction of the 535,000 seats up for
election.
Emmanuel
Macron came to power in 2017 with the help of support from voters in France's
big cities, as well as the collapse of the traditional parties of both right
Republican Party- and left-wing Socialist Party.
However, three years on his movement La
République en March (LREM) -- which was already struggling to embed itself
locally around the country -- failed to capture any of the large metropolitan
areas where the president will need significant voter support at the next
election.
Having
veered to the right in the first half of his presidential term, Macron had
already been tipped to concentrate more on social and environmental issues in
the remaining two years of his mandate. Such a trend is likely to be
accelerated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and these election results.
The local
government election results brought jubilation for the main Green party
and left-wing allies, as they swept to victory in several large cities. Their
success puts more pressure on Emmanuel Macron to address environmental concerns
ahead of the 2022 presidential race.
The greens
have established themselves as a major political opposition force in France,
with notable victories in several major cities including Lyon, Bordeaux and
Strasbourg. They also played a significant part in the re-election of the
socialist mayor in Paris and helped propel the left into pole position in
Marseille.
Europe
Ecology-The Greens (EELV) kept control of Grenoble and also won a host of other
cities including Montpellier, Besançon, Annecy and Poitiers.
The green
success includes victories in cities that traditionally have been bastions of
the political right: in Bordeaux, the right-wing had been in control since
1947, while Lyon was a similar stronghold until it was captured by the
socialists in 2001. But they also showed they can win in traditionally
left-wing cities, such as Poitiers.
But although
Le Pen hailed the RN's victory in Perpignan as proof that her party is
"capable of managing large authorities", results overall were
disappointing.
Although it
held on to eight out of 10 councils it had won in 2014, it lost the only town
it controlled in the Paris region, as well as another municipality in the
south.
The RN won a
few other towns in the south, but the results illustrate that it is finding it
hard to break out of its strongholds at either end of the country -- something
that will be of concern to Macron's rival in the last presidential run-off,
with less than two years to go until the 2022 election.
But beyond
the so-called green wave on Sunday night, a closer look at the ecology
candidates' wins shows that they were made possible by alliances forged with
the Socialist Party, the far-left La France Insoumise, the French Communist
Party and ex-Socialist Hamon's Génération.s party.
Alone, EELV
was vulnerable to defeat, as in Lille where green candidate Stéphane Baly
missed out by a handful of votes on winning City Hall away from Socialist
heavyweight Martine Aubry.
"Between
now and 2022, for the midterms in between, let's continue to cultivate what we
have in common, more than dogmatic differences," said EELV party Chief
Julien Bayou. The greens leader likely had in mind the case of EELV candidate
Michèle Rubirola in Marseille. She was initially suspended from the party for
having refused its logic to go it alone, before eliciting support after topping
the first-round vote in March on the strength of left-wing alliances.
The
Socialist Party, too, had a very good night. Anne Hidalgo won re-election
in Paris while Socialist incumbents also prevailed in cities such as Nantes,
Rennes, Dijon and Le Mans, and the party won City Hall away from an
ex-Socialist in Montpellier.
Sunday
nights' results also vindicate Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure who, since
taking the helm in 2018, has championed left-wingers joining forces. With two
years to go before the next presidential election, Faure clearly hopes these
local elections mark a turning point for leftist political fortunes.
"Enormous
momentum is building all over France," Faure declared. "All of the
left and the ecologists are scoring formidable victories. That is what is
happening. We have something emerging in this country, a social-ecological bloc
that we must now consolidate."
Khalid Bhatti
This was expected by heneral masses mood
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