A bit of history now with a look at the results in the locals since 1945.

29 April and 13 May 1945: As voters went to the polls in the first round, France was still at war, Germany surrendered on May 7. For the first time ever in France, women were allowed to vote, resulting in 50% more voters than pre-war. In the first round, the Communists are favoured, while the radicals and moderates were trounced. The christian democrats of the MRP realized an unexpected breakthrough. In the runoff however, the MRP collapsed while the moderates, radicals, SFIO, and PCF were able to win numerous cities.

19 and 26 October 1947: The election of 1947 was the first local election held under the 4th Republic. While the MRP was severely defeated, the Gaullist RPF realized excellent results (winning Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Paris etc). The Communists, who had been excluded from the government in the spring, were isolated in working-class cities primarily.

26 April and 3 May 1953: After the very favourable 1947 election, but a less favourable time in the National Assembly, the RPF collapsed to 10%, but the centre and the CNIP limited the right’s defeat. The Communists lost over 10%.

8 and 15 March 1959: After coming to power in 1958 under the 5th Republic, the 1959 locals were the first municipal elections under the new republic. After exceptional scores in 1958, the Gaullist UDR realized mediocre scores. The MRP, radicals, SFIO, and Communists held their positions.

14 and 21 March 1965: Like in 1959, the UDR realized deceiving results (although they did moderately gain). The Communists gained, but they also came out of their isolation and started co-operating with other parties of the parliamentary left.

14 and 21 March 1971: Georges Pompidou had been in power since 1969 by 1971. The UDR gained in the radical south-west while the PCF gained in the north and east. On the left, the socialists, although still administering numerous cities with the “moderates”, the strategy of unions with the PCF developed, marked mostly by the withdrawal of candidates in runoff to profit one party.

13 and 20 March 1977: By 1977, Valery Giscard d’Estaing had been in power since 1974. The Communists and PS, united under a “government program” swept the elections. Out of 221 cities with over 30,000 inhabitants, the left won 155. The Socialists gained Rennes, Angers, Brest, Nantes, Villeurbanne, Pau, and Cannes. The Communists gained Le Mans, Reims, and Saint-Etienne. For the first time, green parties realized their first breakthroughs.

For the first time since 1789, elections were held to the mayorship of Paris. The former Prime Minister and RPR candidate Jacques Chirac was elected, defeating notably the Giscardian Michel d’Ornano.

6 and 13 March 1983: The left, in power since only two years, was defeated in the 1983 locals by the RPR-UDF. The Communists lost Saint-Etienne and Reims, while the PS lost Tourcoing, Grenoble, and Roubaix. They narrowly held Marseille (with Gaston Defferre) against Jean-Claude Gaudin (UDF). In Paris, Chirac was easily re-elected, sweeping all arrondissements.

12 and 19 March 1989: After the 1983 disaster, the left did relatively good in 1989. They gained Nantes, Strasbourg, Brest, Orleans, Mulhouse, Avignon, Chambery, and Blois while losing Amiens, Saint-Malo, and Laon. The Communists continued their decline. Chirac repeated his 1983 sweep in Paris, but the PS did the same in Marseille. The FN won their first city, Saint-Gilles in the Gard. The Greens and ecologists did well, winning over 600 seats and around 15 cities.

11 and 18 June 1995: Held only a month after Chirac’s election as President, the 1995 locals presented contrasted results for both parties. The right gained Marseille, Le Havre (a Communist stronghold), Laval, and held Paris and Lyon. The PS, however, gained in both Paris and Lyon and took back Grenoble, and Tours. The Communists re-took Nimes. The far-right did well, with the FN winning in Toulon, Orange, and Marignane.

11 and 18 March 2001: The 2001 elections were generally favourable for the right, who was now in the parliamentary opposition. However, the right’s division in Paris and Lyon led to the PS gaining those two cities. They did, however, take Strasbourg, Aix-en-Provence, Argenteuil (a PCF stronghold since 1934), Blois (Jack Lang defeated), Chartres, Drancy (a PCF stronghold since 1935), Nimes, Orleans, and Saint-Brieuc. The left gained Ajaccio (from the bonapartists of Charles Napoleon), Dijon, and Tulle. The Greens did well, winning 16% in Besancon and winning Saumur by the first round. The far-right, divided between FN and MNR lost Toulon but held Orange, Vitrolles, and Marignane. By 2008, however, none of these three cities are still held by the FN or MNR.

Time now for some little notes on the intricate system used in municipal elections…

Under 35,000 inhabitants

People vote for a candidate in the first round, where votes are counted by candidate. If one or more has over 50% of the votes, he wins by the first round. For the other seats, it goes into a good ol’ runoff, where a plurality of vote is enough to win seats. These cities have from 9 to 23 seats. What is funny is that electors can “modify” a party list, like scratching out a candidate’s name.

Contrary to what people think, the mayor is not directly elected. Any councillor can run for mayor once he/she is elected. To be elected, you need 50% of the councillors. If not it goes into a runoff. If in this runoff, nobody has 50%, a third round is held where a relative majority is enough.

Over 35,000 inhabitants

Thankfully, it gets simpler… for now. In these cities, parties run lists. In the first round, people vote for one of these lists. If one of them wins over 50%, that lists wins the same percentage of seats as it won votes. Remaining seats are then allocated proportionally using a 5% threshold.

If no list has over 50%, a runoff is held, where only lists with 10% or more are allowed. The winning list wins automatically 50% of all seats, as a sort of “winning bonus” similar to what exists in Greek elections. Remaining seats are then allocated proportionally using a 5% threshold.

The election of the mayor is held under the same rules as described above.

Paris, Lyon, Marseille

That was too simple. Before going further, please note that these 3 cities are each subdivided into arrondissements.

Once again, parties run lists of candidates. The first round follows the same system as described above. Electors, however, elect both a arrondissement council and the city council.

If no list has a majority, a runoff is held in that arrondissement between the lists with over 10% there. The subsequent allocation of seats is determined using the same “formula” as in the other cities with over 35,000 inhabitants.

The arrondissement council elects an arrondissement mayor, using the same system. The election of the city’s mayor uses, once again, the same process.

In part III, I’ll get into concrete 2008 stuff, looking at the important races in the major cities. More interesting than this.

The Cotes d’Armor has for a long time been the left’s stronghold in Brittany. If one looks through old electoral statistics, the left has always achieved stronger results in Cotes d’Armor than elsewhere in Brittany. In 2007, Segolene Royal took 30% by the first round and 55% on the second round, compared to 28% in Ille-et-Vilaine and 29% in Finistère. The Communists have also performed above average here, for example Buffet took 2.32% in the department, compared to around 1.9% nationally. Geographically, Socialist support is concentrated heavily in the west of the department, in the constituencies of Guingamp and Lannion while also acheiving high results in Saint Brieuc. The eastern regions, Dinan and Loudeac trend minimally more towards the right, and of those two only Loudeac and the south of the department are more right-wing than its neighboring regions. In the first round of the 2007 presidential election, Dinan and Loudeac voted for Sarkozy, the three other constituencies voted for Royal, with her scores in these three constituencies above her departmental average. Royal won all constituencies in the second round, including Loudeac and Dinan. Once again, a clear east-west divide is seen- she took 52% in Loudeac and Dinan but from 55 to 61% in the three other constituencies.

The results of the first round of the legislative election in Cotes d’Armor illustrated excellently the blue wave of the first round. UMP candidates took the lead in 3 constituencies, with Socialists leading in 2 constituencies. One could have believed the left’s lock on the department was crumbling, though that was not the case.

In the first constituency, Saint Brieuc, seat held by the Socialiste Danielle Bousquet, and a generally safe seat for the PS, the result showed a blue wave too, the UMP was up from 25% in 2002 to around 36%! Also, the Socialist vote was up too, from 34% to 39%. However, in 2002, a UDF candidate had taken 12% here, and in 2007 the MoDem ran no candidate in this constituency, the only constituency where they didn’t do so. To explain the increase in Socialist vote, there was less of a division in left-wing votes than in 2002, the idea of vote utile being shown here. Both the Communist and Green vote was down, the PCF had won 7.6% in 2002, the Greens 4.6%, and the Pole Republicain had 1.5%. In 2007, the Communists collapsed to 5.4%, and the Greens were down to 4.5%. Bousquet was of course re-elected, with over 57.7%, higher than her 55% score in 2002 and only a few points higher than Royal’s 57.2%.

The second constituency, formed by Dinan, Cap Frehel, Plancoet voted for Sarkozy in the first round and the seat itself is a marginal. In the first round, Michel Vaspart, UMP candidate on his second try, led the Socialist incumbent Jean Gaubert by two votes! The surge of the left nationwide in the second round provided Gaubert with the power to trounce Vaspart 54.7% to 45.3%. In 2002, the result had been much more marginal, Gaubert had defeated Vaspart with only 50.12%.

The third constituency, dominated by Loudéac and Lamballe, the first one being a city of the right, the other being a city of the left. The constituency is the only one held by the right. The first round of 2007 was easily dominated by the UMP incumbent Marc Le Fur, who was only 2% away from being elected by the first round. He took 48.02%, the Socialists over 10 points behind with 34.7%. Equally surprising is the scale of the centre’s collapse from Bayrou’s 21% in April to the MoDem’s mere 2.9% in June. In the south, Loudéac and surrouding villages all voted at over 50% for Le Fur, while Lamballe voted, in scores much closer than in the south, primarily for the Socialist candidate. In the second round, Le Fur was re-elected taking 52%, down only a few points from 52.7% in 2002.

Guingamp and its constituency is the most solid Socialist constituency in the department, Royal took over 61% in the second round here. This seat is also part of western Brittany’s red belt, the belt that extends into Morbihan where Communists achieve high scores. In fact, in 1997, a Communist was elected in a race including a Socialist candidate. In 2002, the Communists lost half their 1997 vote and fell to 15.8%. In 2007, the Socialist incumbent Marie-Renée Oget easily won the first round taking 32.6% to the UMP’s 26.16%. The Communists achieved their best score region wide, with over 12% and coming first in 5 towns. The MoDem also won 3 towns and took 10.2% in the constituency as a whole. The UDB, a left-wing autonomist party, leader and regional councillor Mona Bras won 4.9%. In the second round, Oget, with a strong reserve from the Communists and UDB easily won, trouncing the UMP with her 63%.

The fifth constituency, whose main city is Lannion votes, more or less, like the department as a whole. With the “blue wave” of the first round, the UMP candidate came out on top with 34% to the Socialist’s 33%. The MoDem was also strong, with 10.9%, the centre’s best score in the department, although far from Bayrou’s 21% in April. Continuing it’s local bellwether tradition, the Socialists carried the seat with 56%, increasing the party’s marginal 50.92% in 2002. The right came out on top, although most times by almost nothing, in the richer seaside resorts, for example Perros Guirec.

As for summing up a general trend in the department, the west is safe Socialist, the east is more marginal, with the south of the department being more rightwards leaning. Without forgetting of course the red belt in the west. Ahead of the 2008 municipal elections, the Socialists will be trying to take back Saint Brieuc from the right, after the left had lost it in 2001. Another target within the left’s reach is Dinan, which voted Socialist in the second round of the legislative elections and whose town hall is currently held by the right.

The Socialists have held former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Val d’Oise seat (Sarcelles) in a by-election on December 9 and 16. In June 2007, the UMP candidate and lawyer Sylvie Noachovitch had caused a surprise when she led DSK in the first round, before losing 55-45 to DSK. Resigning only a few months later to become head of the International Monetary Fund, his protege and incumbent Mayor of Sarcelles François Pupponi became the PS candidate. This is the constituency of Villiers le Bel, where riots and building destruction happened in November 2007.

While participation was just 25.06%, the PS led the first round by 168 votes over Noachovitch, though the UMP vote was up albeit minimally. The surprise was the FN’s surge, from a mere 4% to 7.47% this election, and over 10% in Villiers le Bel. The Communist vote was also up to 6.03%, while the centrist MoDem lost 0.28% of its June 2007 vote.

Pupponi was elected today with around 54.4% of the vote, down from DSK’s second round score in June.

Could this FN re-birth from it’s June disaster be a nationwide trend? We’ll need to wait until March 2008 for a confirmation on that.

This map showing the vote received by candidates of CPNT (Hunting, Fishing, Nature, and Traditions) reflects an interesting pattern seen in all others CPNT maps, the lands of “hunters”. It sounds silly as we’re used to “centrist lands”, “socialist lands”, but there is also “hunters land”. The Somme has always been where CPNT achieved their best results, in 1999 they won the department in the European elections. Jean Saint-Josse took over 10% in the department in the 2002 presidential elections. Nihous won only over 2.5% here in 2007, but even as the CPNT vote is in quick regression, it remains the best department for the party. In the 4th constituency, located around Abbeville, CPNT achieved it’s best result taking 8.9%, better than Nihous’ 5.38%. In the 3rd constituency, CPNT took over 6%, once again better than Nihous’ score here. Other hunter lands are in the Manche department, in Gironde and a few other spots here and there. The east of France, the urban areas all remain hostile to the rural party.

Since the second round of 1974 Ille-et-Vilaine is the French department that has trended the most towards the left. Mitterand took only 38.22% in 1974’s second round compared to over 60% for the centrist Giscard d’Estaing. In 2007, Segolene Royal, the socialist candidate sweeped all Breton departments except right-wing Morbihan. She took 52.39% in Illr-et-Vilaine.

The first constituency, centered around Rennes is a solid seat for the Socialists, having held it since 1997. Royal took over 60% in this constituency in the second round and the incumbent Jean-Michel Boucheron easily dominated the first round taking 42.88% to the UMP’s 21.50% and the MoDem’s 11.44%, which was over 10 points lower than Bayrou’s score in the constituency. In the second round, Boucheron took 65%

The second constituency, equally reliable for the Socialists, Philippe Tourtelier was able to lead his UMP rival and perennial candidate of the right to the Rennes mayorship Loïck Le Brun by only 1%, in a constituency where Royal took over 56%. However, in a more favorable day for the PS, Tourtelier easily won re-election taking 56.43%, a few points over Royal’s score in the second round on May 6.

In the third constituency, which elected UMP Philippe Rouault in 2002 but placed Royal in front on the first and second rounds, the left emerged split on the first round, with the 2002 PS candidate Marcel Rogemont leading a dissident candidacy over the official PS candidate Laurence Duffaud. On the first round, Rouault led Rogemont 40% to 25%, with Duffaud taking 12.57% narrowly beating a low MoDem at 8.93% (Bayrou had taken 24.44% here). With a nationwide trend favoring the left on June 17, Rogemont was elected taking 52.75%, and winning by 5.5%, but not matching Royal’s 55% in the constituency.

The fourth constituency, left open by the retirement of long time incumbent and 2002 presidential contender Alain Madelin, voted for Royal in both rounds. Jean-Rene Marsac, the Socialist candidate trailed UMP Loic Aubin on the first round 38-32, but the “pink revival” of the second round led to his election and the end of a UDF-DL-UMP hold on the seat, that had been severely reduced even by 2002, with Madelin only taking 50.62% (compared to 55% in 1997 and 58% in 1993 by the first round). From a mere 15% in 1993, the socialists were able to pick up this seat 14 years later.

In Vitre and the fifth constituency, a stronghold of the Mehaignerie “dynasty”, long time incumbent Pierre Mehaignerie was the only Ille-et-Vilaine incumbent to win re-election by the first round taking 52% to 23% for the Socialist candidate. Vitre was also Bayrou’s best I-et-V constituency, where he took 26.24%, only 4% from 30%. However, the MoDem candidate received only 13.16%.

The surprise on the election came in Fougeres and the surrouding 6th constituency where UMP incumbent Marie-Thérèse Boisseau faced general councillor Thierry Benoit of the MoDem and a Green candidate, Marie-Pierre Rouger, the same Green she had defeated in 2002, by taking 64% to Rouger’s mere 35.9%. Once again, no Socialist candidate was present (there was a Left Radical present however). While Boisseau led the first round with 37.3%, Benoit took 20.2% and qualified for the runoff. The Greens actually increased their share of votes to 18.92% but were shut out of the runoff, because they had scored only 11.67% of registered voters (French electoral law states that a runoff occurs between the candidates receiving over 12.5% of registered voters and not voting voters). Benoit found the votes, most likely from the 19% of Green and 9% of Left Radical voters to defeat Boisseau 55-45.

In the seventh constituency centered around Saint-Malo, the city’s mayor and incumbent Rene Couanau faced 2002 candidate Isabelle Thomas. Unlike in 2002 however, Couanau failed to win re-election by the first round, he did lead the first round heavily with 47% to 24.7% to Thomas and 15% to the MoDem. He was easily re-elected by the second round, Thomas’ local presence not enough for her to take the seat. What is of interest however is the MoDem candidate’s support, with 15% he had the second best MD score in the department. The candidate, mayor of Saint-Pere, a neighboring village actually won his village and surrounding villages but also the canton, likely benefiting from a favorite son factor in the election.

The chart belows compares Bayrou’s score to the actual MD scor, all showing the same pattern of above-average vote for each Bayrou and his party, but the MoDem much lower than Bayrou’s score, trend also seen nationwide, obviously.