It is indeed an extraordinary ballot that was played out today in France. The second round of municipal elections takes place three months after the first round, delayed by the health crisis due to the Covid-19.
16.5 million voters and more than 157,000 candidates were affected by this vote. It is not the whole of France… The ballot took place in 4,820 municipalities (15% of the country’s municipalities), as well as in the districts and sectors of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse where the councils were not fully elected on March 15. The rural communes having massively concluded the election in the first round.
According to initial estimates, these elections were marked by a strong push by environmentalists, especially in Lyon in Lille, and a setback for the presidential party, beaten in most of the main cities of the country, except in Le Havre where Prime Minister Edouard Philippe won.
The National Rally has succeeded in establishing itself in Perpignan.
Abstention has reached a historic level: almost 60% of voters shunned this second round.
Anne Hidalgo returned to Paris
The outgoing socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, won the municipal elections, obtaining between 49.3 and 50.2% of the votes in the second round, according to two polling institutes.
She thus outstripped candidate Les Républicains (LR) Rachida Dati (between 32 and 32.7%) and that of La République en Marche (LREM) Agnès Buzyn (between 13.7 and 16% of votes), according to Harris Interactive and Ipsos-Sopra Steria.
The score on the evening of the first round was almost unexpected for her.
By getting ahead of the mayor of the 7th arrondissement Rachida Dati, and the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, she was almost guaranteed to renew her mandate.
The list merger agreement with Europe-Ecologie-Les-Verts (EELV), which came 4th in the capital, consolidated its lead. Anne Hidalgo could also conquer new districts.
Faced with this union of the lefts, no agreement was established between Les Républicains and La République en Marche, in the capital.
Edouard Philippe wins at Le Havre
The Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe (LRM), emerged victorious in Le Havre in the second round of the municipal elections, the list of which collected 58.83% of the votes against the PCF deputy Jean-Paul Lecoq. He praised Sunday evening for “net results” and an “act of confidence” from the town hall of this town.
Coming in the lead in the first round with 43.6% of the vote, Edouard Philippe had a head start against his opponent.
At the same time, he had little reserve of votes for the second round. Jean-Paul Lecoq, should be able to count on a carryover of the votes obtained by the EELV list of Alexis Deck (8.3%).
The reshuffle, which is to take place in the coming days, has clearly not dissuaded his constituents …
In Lille, victory also for Martine Aubry with a short head
The socialist mayor of Lille Martine Aubry won the second round by a short head, ahead “by 227 votes” her environmental competitor Stéphane Baly.
She assured Sunday that she heard the message about the need for a rapid ecological transition.
The suspense lasted a good part of the beginning of the evening, the polls giving the two candidates neck and neck, largely in front of the macronist candidate Violette Spillebout.
In the northern city, on was witnessing an unexpected triangle, since Martine Aubry’s list – 29.8% in the first round – and that of her environmental allies in the current majority opposed the second round.
The outgoing mayor had to face the head of the EELV list as well as that of LRM, led by her former director of the cabinet, Violette Spillebout.
A sacred historic turning point, since environmentalists and socialists have ruled the city together since 1977, at the time of Pierre Mauroy.
The far right breaks through Perpignan
In this southern city, the National Rally (RN) is the big winner of this second round.
The candidate Louis Aliot would win with 53.1 to 54% of the vote, against the outgoing mayor Jean-Marc Pujol (LR), according to estimates by three polling institutes.
Faced with the risk of a quadrangular which would undoubtedly have served the far right, a “republican front” had been formed … The top names La République en Marche (LRM) and Europe-Ecologie-Les-Verts (EELV) withdrew in the second round, leaving their voices to the outgoing mayor Les Républicains.
It is the first city with more than 100,000 inhabitants, which has been controlled by the RN since 1995.
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In Lyon, environmentalists lead
At 46, the ecologist Grégory Doucet, a stranger to the general public, is on the way to delight hands down with the town hall of Lyon, a historic take for the Greens who will lead the 3rd city of France.
According to three polling institutes, he comes out on top in Lyon with more than 50% of the vote and more than 20 points ahead of his opponents.
Three heads of list competed for the place of the outgoing mayor, Gérard Collomb (La République en Marche, ex-PS, former Minister of the Interior).
On the evening of the first round, the EELV list largely came out on top (28.4%).
Initially candidate for the presidency of the metropolis of Lyon (whose election takes place the same day as the municipal ones), Gérard Collomb was finally seen withdrawing his investiture by the presidential party after he announced an alliance with the head of LR list for elections (17%).
LRM has since announced support for Georges Képénékian (ex-LRM, 12%), the former first deputy mayor of Lyon…
Faced with this cacophony, EELV announced the merger of the pink-green-red lists, with the EELV candidate coming in first.
In Toulouse, the right is maintained
In the pink city, the right remains at the town hall.
Outgoing mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR-LREM) leads Toulouse in the second round, with 51.6% of the vote, ahead of the left list of Antoine Maurice who led a large green-left coalition (48.4 %), according to the Ipsos Sopra Steria polling institute.
“It is confirmed”, at “just over 52%,” said Jean-Luc Moudenc, interviewed by the press, about a victory. He expressed his “gratitude” to the voters.
The outgoing mayor LR and macron-compatible should thus be reappointed at the head of the fourth city of France, after a very close duel with his environmental rival, who led a union of the left associating Insoumis, communists, socialists and radicals of the left with a citizen nucleus.
Arrived widely in the lead (36.2%) on March 15, Jean-Luc Moudenc, was hoping for a triangular that would give him free rein.
But the head of the PS list, arriving third, withdrew, opening the way for a duel between the list Citizen Archipelago (Europe Ecology-The Greens-Insubordinate France) and that of the outgoing mayor (The Republicans).
The environmental candidate Antoine Maurice, second (27.6%), was in a good position to take the town hall.
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