Sarkozy mid-term election rebuff

THE Socialist Party is celebrating its comeback after a disastrous European election result last summer, coming top in 20 out of 22 parts of France in the regional elections.

The party, led by Martine Aubry, was boosted by last-minute alliances with other left-wing parties and especially Europe Ecologie, the green movement that came third in the first round of votes.

The challenge for the PS now is to keep close ties with the parties it befriended. The regionals are a mid-term report for Nicolas Sarkozy and mark the beginning of the preparations for the presidential campaign, which will be played out between now and spring 2012.

Left-wing parties, dominated by the Socialists, averaged 54.3% nationally in the second round of votes, beating the governing UMP, which recorded 36.1%. Ms Aubry said: “The public have shown their rejection of the policies of the president and government.”

UMP secretary-general Xavier Bertrand said the clear victory by the left was “disappointing” and Nicolas Sarkozy was tipped to be preparing a cabinet reshuffle as The Connexion went to press.

The Socialist victory will bring hope to the party which has drifted for some years, with a bitter leadership battle in 2008 followed by a crushing defeat in last June’s European elections, where it lost half of its seats.

The UMP had been hoping to claw back some of the regions it lost to the Socialists in 2004, but ended up with control of just one region: the conservative stronghold of Alsace.

In the Languedoc-Roussillon, current president Georges Frêche was re-elected, fending off a rival Socialist campaign after he was expelled from the party for comments judged to be anti-Semitic.

The Front National won 9.5% of votes nationally – although it was only present in 12 of the 22 regions. The far-right party scored just over 22% in two regions: led by Jean-Marie Le Pen in Paca and his daughter Marine in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

Mr Le Pen said his party’s success was proof of “the collapse of Sarkozyism”. He also congratulated his daughter for her performance, adding: “The Le Pen brand is a strong one.”

The centrist MoDem party scored just 4% in the first round. Only parties with 10% or more can go through to the second round of voting. Those with between 5-10% are allowed to merge their candidates with those on the lists of other more successful parties.

Voter turnout, at 51.2%, was up on the first round’s record low turnout of 46.3%, but was still down on previous years.