Polls predict FN success

THE COUNTRY is gearing up for departmental elections this Sunday - expected to see another major success for the Front National.

After unprecedented success at last year’s local and European elections, the far-Right party is predicted by polls to win a majority of the votes at Sunday’s first round – though due to the way the voting works this will not necessarily follow through to widespread success at the second round one week later.

The elections, which only French citizens can vote in, are for the councils formerly known as conseil général but now simply renamed conseil départemental.

Their jobs include running the social services, looking after secondary roads, promoting culture and tourism and taking charge of the collèges.

In another change as of this year the councils will be elected entirely every six years instead of half of the councillors being elected every three years. The elections also have a new name – élections départementales instead of élections cantonales which refers to the individual wards to which councillors are elected.

The canton – the smallest division of local government, dating from 1789 – now only serves this purpose, but they were once also the basis for the organisation of local fire brigades, gendarmes and taxes.

Also new this time, parties have to put forward male/female teams for each one, which as a result have almost (but not quite) been halved in number.

This will result in about 300 extra councillors and will be a revolution in some departments, such as the Deux-Sèvres, where, out of 33 current councillors there is not a single elected woman (the two female councillors were appointed to replace people who died).

The last departmental elections, in 2011, were a victory for the Left, but polls predict a poor showing for the Socialists this time, expected to win just 19% behind both the FN (30%) and Sarkozy’s Right-wing UMP (29%) at the first round according to polling body Ifop.

However, while commentators think Marine Le Pen’s party might win leadership of some departments – perhaps including the Var, Aisne, Oise and Vaucluse – the party is not likely to dominate the second rounds on March 29 when more than half of the votes are needed to win and it is predicted the FN will come up against both the UMP and centrist party UDI.

Even so, the FN at present leads no departmental councils, so taking control of one or more - and winning at the first round – would be seen as another strong sign of the party’s rise.

It won the most votes at the European elections last year (25%) and also won 14 large towns in the municipal ones.

Most of France is taking part in this weekend’s elections apart from Paris and Lyon – the Conseil de Paris is both a municipal and departmental council but only holds municipal elections while the area of greater Lyon is run by a ‘metropolitan council’ also based on municipal elections – though departmental elections will be held in other parts of the Rhône department where the city is situated.