Champagne-Ardennes (UMP +1)

Ardennes: No luck for the right in Charleville-Mézières, up there on the UMP targets list. The PS incumbent Claudine Ledoux took a large 55.8% in the runoff. Relatively easy re-election for the Socialists in Sedan (where the Franco-Prussian battle of Sedan took place) too, with the PS taking 51.12% in the runoff, in addition to a DVD list and a DVG list. Exact same lists in Revin for the runoff, and exact same victor- the PS, with 51%. The right held the southwestern city of Rethel, taking 57.5% against 25.8% for the left and 16.8% for another DVD list.

Aube: A clear first round victory in Troyes for the UMP Francois Baroin with 50.42% against the PS’s 23.22% and the MoDem’s 11.92%. The FN won 8.74% and the Greenies took 5.7%. A weirder situation in Romilly-sur-Seine with the retirement of the Left Radical mayor (who had governed with strange bedfellows- centrists and the right). For the left, the Communist Joë Triché (Romilly was a PCF city until the PRG gain in 1989) and the Left Radical Sarah Auzols fought it out, with Joë Triché taking 39.9% in the first round against 33.7% for the UMP. Auzols took 26.5%. The Communists, confident of a gain, lost the runoff against the UMP with 45.9% against 54.1% for the UMP. Total UMP +1

Marne: Defeated narrowly in 2001 by the then-UDF incumbent (retiring in 08), Adeline Hazan MEP got a second try. And a good one. The right left divided between two strong candidates- two former ministers- Renaud Dutreil (UMP) and Catherine Vautrin (UMPd-MoDem). Hazan picked up on the division, like in 2001 (she had led the first round then) but more convincingly. She took 42.1% against 25.2% for Vautrin. Dutreil took a mere 23% and merged with Vautrin’s list. However, Dutreil’s apparent reluctance of merging with Vautrin cost the right the city. Hazan took 56.1% in a relatively right-wing city. The right was successful in Châlons, capitalizing on the left’s division. The UMP took 52.8% in the runoff. The right also held Epernay (53.1%) but lost Vitry-le-Francois in a landslide. The PS took 51.23% by the first round against a divided right. Total PS +2

Haute-Marne: A small wooded department, the Haute-Marne is very conservative despite the existence of now-declining industrial and working-class areas. In Chaumont, held by a DVG mayor since 1989, Luc Chatel, a Secretary of State in the Fillon government (UMP) won the city by the first round, taking 56.2%. The right also gained Langres from another DVG by the first round with 52.32%. The UMP held Saint-Dizier easily with 66.34% by the first round. Total UMP/DVD +2

Bourgogne (PS/DVG +3)

Cote d’Or: Rebsamen held Dijon marvelously by the first round, with 56.2% against 36.44% for the UMP. Rebsamen had gained the city from the RPR in 2001, but much more narrowly. Ironically, one of the songs played at his victory had an artist none other than Carla Bruni-Sarkozy! The right held its stronghold of Beaune with over 66.7% in the first round. In the general council, a deadlock between left and right led to the election of Francois Sauvadet (NC) as President.

Nievre: A stronghold for the left in a region that leans to the right (overall), the Nievre is more importantly Mitterrandie. While the left’s domination of the department is still close to total, it’s hold has lessened a bit since the end of the Mitterrand era and dynasty in the 1990s. In fact, the PS won Nevers again, but lost a bit over 1% over 2001, taking 52.33%. The left, however, took Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, the most right-wing city, from the right with 49.7% in a three-way runoff. Total PS +1

Saone-et-Loire: Talk of a double disaster for Perben! Trounced in Lyon (see below), his party lost Chalon, the city he had left to run in Lyon. The PS took 54.5% by the first round, largely defeating the right’s candidate. The right did hold Macon, with 50.5% in the first round. No success for the right in Montceau-les-Mines (PS 53.31%, R1), Autun (DVG 47.12%, R1) and Le Creusot (DVG, 66.67%, R1). In the general council, gained by the PS in 2004, the President Christophe Sirugue preferred leaving the department’s presidency to become mayor of Chalon. Instead, the Socialist ‘leader’ in Saone-et-Loire, Arnaud Montebourg, ran in the canton of Montret in order to solidify his local implantations after a close call in the 2007 elections. [rant]Despite being strongly opposed to dual office-holding and currently in a crusade for a 6th Republic, Montebourg needed to turn on his word to save his reputation as the PS leader. And he did. Sadly. He won in Montret and became President of the General Council. I guess he’s not against triple offices?[/rant]. Total PS +1

Yonne: Two big deceptions for the right in its Yonne stronghold: firstly, the PS holding Auxerre with 52.4% by the first round, and secondly the loss of Sens to the left (51.77% for the DVG list). Total DVG +1

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