The second round of French municipal elections on Sunday was marked by a strong environmental push in several large cities and the capture of Perpignan by the far right. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was re-elected in Le Havre.
Abstention has reached a historic level: nearly 60% of voters have shunned this second round organized more than three and a half months after the first, coronavirus forces.
Very soon after the first results, President Emmanuel Macron said he was “concerned about the low participation rate”. A finding shared by the opposition and in particular Jean-Luc Mélenchon (radical left), who described this election as a “civic strike”, or by the 2017 presidential finalist, Marine Le Pen.
But beyond this unprecedented abstention, it is the “green wave” that attracts attention.
Big cities go green
After a first hopeful tour, environmentalists were targeting several major cities, including Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Lille. And the green wave has turned into a breaking wave.
While waiting for Marseilles, where the environmental candidate Michèle Rubirola at the head of a left-wing coalition was given a big winner according to two first estimates, the Greens have done a double blow in Lyon: Bruno Bernard won the metropolis there, seat of true power, and Grégory Doucet the city, defeating Yann Cucherat, foal of the outgoing mayor Gérard Collomb.
The Greens were also able to claim victory in Strasbourg and Bordeaux. In the northern capital on the other hand, the outgoing mayor PS Martine Aubry ended up winning by a hair against the green candidate Stéphane Baly.
Other big cities – Besançon, Tours Poitiers, Annecy – have fallen into the hands of the Greens, who have long served as an auxiliary force but assert themselves as the first to the left before the next electoral deadlines.
Hidalgo re-elected in Paris
Unlike the other big cities, the uncertainty was low in Paris, where the outgoing Anne Hidalgo (PS) contained in the first round her environmental partners by endorsing herself a resolutely green program. With around 50% of the votes according to first estimates, it is far ahead of its competitors Lde right Rachida Dati and the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn.
Emmanuel Macron’s main adversary at the national level, the National Rally won Perpignan, 120,000 inhabitants. By beating the outgoing LR mayor Jean-Marc Pujol with 53.1 to 54% of the votes according to estimates, the ex-companion of Marine Le Pen, Louis Aliot, gives back to the party the control of its first city of more than 100 ‘ 000 inhabitants since 1995 and Toulon. The party also won Bruay-la-Bussière (Pas-de-Calais) and Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne).
“This is not only a symbolic victory, it is a real trigger, because we will also be able to demonstrate that we are capable of managing large communities,” said Le Pen.
Philippe re-elected to Le Havre
For the presidential party, the Republic on the March (LREM), which is not in a position of strength in any big city and does not benefit from a deep local anchorage, it is a setback.
“Tonight we are disappointed because there are places (…) where our own internal division has led us to extremely disappointing scores,” said government spokeswoman Sibeth N’Diaye. She felt that “in the months to come”, her party could not “afford this kind of division”.
The only small clarification, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who had not endorsed the LREM label, easily won the election in the port city of Le Havre with 59% of the vote.
Restoring health
Very weakened at the national level, the Socialist Party and The Republicans (“traditional” right) counted on these elections to recover their health locally.
The PS has therefore retained Paris, Lille, Le Mans, Clermont-Ferrand and should keep orders from Rennes and Nantes. As a bonus, the PS delighted Nancy.
The Republicans confirmed their establishment by winning in the first round many of the cities with more than 9,000 inhabitants they controlled. They retained the city of Toulouse and should prevail in a multitude of medium-sized cities, but lost to the benefit of the ecologists of the fiefs like Marseille or Bordeaux.
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