Why left do well in regional vote

Why are regional elections dominated by the left, when the right tends to do better nationally and in presidential elections?

This is partly due to the role these “mid-term” elections play, where different parts of the electorate express their disillusions and frustrations.

Bruno Cautrès, a researcher at the political research centre at Sciences-Po in Paris, said the problem for the UMP comes from a lack of obvious political allies, while the Socialists teamed up with Europe Ecologie and other left-wing parties in the second round.

“Regional elections are organised as two-round elections and the crucial point is having partners for second-round alliances – the UMP has no partners,” he says.

Mr Cautrès says Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry coped well with the regional campaign and the fallout with Languedoc-Roussillon president Georges Frêche, who was disowned by the party but re-elected on the back of local left-wing support.

Frêche, known to some as the “Le Pen of the left” caused consternation by stating that former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius had a “tronche pas très Catholique” – a “not very Catholic nose”, which was widely considered as an anti-Semitic remark.

These elections have also revealed the growing power of the extreme right and the Front National.

“The succession of Jean-Marie Le Pen is on the table and his daughter Marine’s score in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais reinforces her position as the natural successor,” says Mr Cautrès.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit is considered to have done extremely well for the green party, Europe Écologie. The party came third in the first round with 12.47% nationwide and then teamed up with the Socialist Party in the second round, except in Brittany where the two sides could not reach a deal.

Mr Cautrès says the significant growth in the green vote would have consequences on how the left goes forward into the presidential elections.

Centrist party MoDem is seen to be the biggest loser in the elections. “We may expect some internal dispute about [party leader] François Bayrou’s personal strategy.

He seems too preoccupied by his personal prospects in the 2012 presidential election,” says Mr Cautrès.

The strategies deployed by the Socialist Party in the campaign – as it tried to unite the left and gain voters from the centre – will have an impact on the preparations for the presidential campaign, Mr Cautrès says. The vote is due to be held around the end of April 2012.