Rain could hike election turnout

BAD weather on Sunday may mean a better turnout for the second round of the departmental elections, it is thought.

Rain is predicted everywhere on Sunday morning apart from in the south-west, so people are likely to be staying at home rather than heading out for the day – and the only place expected to be sunny on Sunday is the Pyrenees and only in the afternoon.

Some experts think this could see a larger turnout on Sunday than for the first rounds which had a turnout of 51%, up from 44% in 2001.

Once again the performance of the Front National will be under scrutiny after it won a quarter of the total vote last week.

It is thought it will win only a handful of departments – but even that would be significant compared to the previous elections when it did not win any.

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