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French regional elections: Voters stay away as Macron suffers bad night

The first round of France's regional elections on Sunday were marked by a record low turn-out, a sluggish performance from Marine Le Pen's far-right party and a bad night for the president Emmanuel Macron.

Published: 21 June 2021 09:05 CEST
French regional elections: Voters stay away as Macron suffers bad night
French president Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Christian Hartmann/AFP

Voters, albeit not many of them, headed to the polls on Sunday for the first round of voting for regional presidencies in France’s 13 regions and five overseas territories.

Keenly observed as the last elections before the presidential vote in 2022, in fact the big winner was abstention with a massive 66 percent of the population not bothering to vote at all.

That marked highest abstention rate recorded in recent French history for any type of election.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party had been hoping to stamp its mark in the first round, but instead saw the vote share fall in many areas compared to the last regional elections in 2015.

The party did, however, finish ahead in the southern Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

The rest of France was divided between candidates for centre-left and centre-right coalitions.

The centre-right president of the greater Paris region of Île-de-France Valerie Pecresse was on course to be re-elected in next week’s second round. Her colleague in Les Republicains party Xavier Bertrand, who will run for president in 2022 was also in pole position to be re-elected in the northern region of Hauts de France.

As was forecast President Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche party, formed in 2016, performed poorly. LREM candidates in many regions did not make it through to the second round of voting. 

Candidates ran on anti-mask, anti-lockdown or Covid-sceptic platforms in several regions and all did extremely badly, with none scoring more than one percent of the vote.

You can find the full results by region HERE.

The second round of voting takes place on Sunday, June 27th, when voters head back to the polls to vote on the highest scoring candidates from the first round. 

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POLITICS

LATEST: French PM says new government names will be revealed ‘before Sunday’

France's long-running political deadlock finally reached a conclusion on Thursday night as newly-appointed prime minister Michel Barnier travelled to the Presidential palace to present his new government.

Published: 19 September 2024 18:07 CEST
Updated: 19 September 2024 21:37 CEST
LATEST: French PM says new government names will be revealed 'before Sunday'

Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s office said on Thursday that he would “go to the Elysée to propose to the president a government that is ready to serve France”.

After a meeting earlier on Thursday afternoon with the heads of political parties, Barner then travelled to the Elysée Palace on Thursday evening to meet president Emmanuel Macron.

Their meeting lasted for just under an hour and at the end journalists saw Macron showing Barnier out saying Merci beaucoup, à demain (thanks very much, see you tomorrow).

After the meeting, Barnier’s office said he had had a “constructive exchange” with the president and that the full list of names of the new ministers will be made public “before Sunday, after the usual checks have been made”.

French media reported that the full list of 38 names, of which 16 will be full minsters, includes seven ministers from Macron’s centrist group, two from fellow centrists MoDem and three from Barnier’s own party, the right-wing Les Républicains.

Listen to John Lichfield discussing the challenges that Barnier faces in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast – download here or listen on the link below

Barnier’s statement said that “after two weeks of intensive consultations with the different political groups” he has found the architecture of his new government, adding that his priorities would be to;

  • Improve the standard of living for the French and the workings of public services, especially schools and healthcare
  • Guarantee security, control immigration and improve integration
  • Encourage businesses and agriculture and build upon the economic attractiveness of France
  • Get public finances under control and reduce debt

France has been in a state of limbo ever since parliamentary elections in July produced a deadlock with no group coming close to winning enough seats for a majority.

A caretaker government remained in place over the summer while president Emmanuel Macron declared an ‘Olympics truce’.

He finally appointed the right-wing former minister and ex-Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on September 5th.

Barnier has spent the last two weeks in intense negotiations in his attempt to form a government that won’t immediately be brought down through a motion of no-confidence in parliament.

Numerous left-wing politicians are reported to have refused to serve in his government while several high-profile Macronists have also ruled themselves out, including long-serving finance minister Bruno Le Maire who last week announced that he was quitting politics.

The reported make up of the new government does not reflect the election result – in which the leftist Nouveau Front Populaire coalition came first, followed by Macron’s centrists with the far-right Rassemblement National in third – but Barnier’s hope is that enough MPs will support it to avoid an immediate motion de censure (vote of no confidence).

The government’s first task will be to prepare the 2025 budget, which is already a week late. France’s soaring budget deficit and threat of a downgrade from ratings agencies mean that it will be a tricky task with Barnier, who has prepared the ground for tax hikes by warning that the situation is ‘very serious’.

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