Sunday June 20th 2021
Mood test in France
A damper for Le Pen in regional elections
In the French regional elections, the right-wing populists around party leader Le Pen are only in second place behind the conservatives, according to projections. President Macron’s La République en Marche party has also suffered a setback.
Boom for France’s conservatives, a damper for the right-wing populists of Marine Le Pen: In the first round of the French regional elections, the bourgeois camp unexpectedly became the strongest force, according to the first partial results. In an initial reaction, Le Pen attributed this to the “catastrophically” low turnout of only around a third of the electorate, which creates a “deceptive picture” of the balance of power in the country. Your party Rassemblement National (RN / formerly: Front National) received about 19 percent of the vote, as the French broadcaster Franceinfo reported, citing the projections in the evening. It was only in second place behind the bourgeois-conservative camp, which would therefore come to 27 percent.
In the last regional elections in December 2015, Le Pen’s party was the strongest force in the first round with 27.7 percent of the vote. In the second round, however, they failed to win one of the French regions for themselves.
Slap for Macron’s party
According to projections, the traditional People’s Party of Socialists and Partners made it to around 18 percent of the vote. Together with civil rights, they currently represent the regional president in most regions. The green camp got around 13 percent and was ahead of the party of France’s head of state Emmanuel Macron, La République en Marche (LREM, The Republic in Motion). Together with liberal allies, some of whom are better anchored in the country, the party achieved around 11 percent and ended up in fifth place.
Conservative candidates for the presidential election in just under a year now see opportunities to beat Head of State Emmanuel Macron. As expected, its party suffered a setback. The party leader of the conservative party Les Républicains (The Republicans) of ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, Christian Jacob, attested the presidential party an “unprecedented defeat”. The Republicans have become “by far the party with the most votes,” he stressed.
Record low possible for voter turnout
The regions determine parts of education, transport and economic policy. Compared to the German federal states, however, they have only limited influence. The regional and departmental elections are considered the last nationwide decisions before the presidential election next spring as a test of sentiment. The second round of voting will take place on June 27th.
Most recently, in the first round, there was an extremely low turnout and thus a possible record low. According to the Interior Ministry, 26.7 percent of the almost 46 million people on the electoral lists had cast their votes by 5 p.m. Even in 2010, when according to official figures there was the lowest turnout in the first round, the value at 5 p.m. was significantly higher at 39.3 percent. A recent poll assumes that more than two thirds will stay away from the ballot box. The last polling stations should close at 8 p.m.
Le Pen has declared the elections to be a vote on President Emmanuel Macron’s reform course and Corona policy. She wants to challenge the 43-year-old in the presidential elections next spring. According to surveys, a close race is expected. In the last presidential election in 2017, Macron had clearly prevailed against Le Pen in the runoff election with around 66 percent.
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