Last modification: 21/03/08
 -  Bertrand Delanoë - municipal elections - Paris - Socialist Party (France) - UMP
 
French local elections
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French voters elected their mayors on March 16th. Are the stakes local or of national importance? In Paris, where the mayor’s seat is considered a possible springboard for the presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy's party suffered a major setback.
The local elections were held in 36,783 cities and towns across France, from the smallest villages to the country’s major cities, with a potential electorate of over 45 million people. In the first round of the election on March 9th, the left-wing bloc led the race ahead of President Sarkozy’s UMP party. Its lead was then confirmed in the runoff vote on March 16. Political surveys show that the French are mainly interested in local issues when electing their mayors. But local polls can have greater implications and be seen as a national test, for or against the government’s policies. Local mandates may also become launching pads for political figures eyeing a breakthrough on the national stage. Former president Jacques Chirac demonstrated how the Paris city hall could lead straight to the Elysée. Indeed, the capital’s outgoing mayor and Socialist candidate Bertrand Delanoe was accused by his right-wing opponent Françoise de Panafieu of using local mandates to satisfy his national ambitions. She suggested her victorious rival was more interested in the presidential election of 2012 than in the French capital’s daily housing and transport issues.

  • FRANCE - MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2008
    Local polls deal a blow to Sarkozy's party
    The opposition Socialist party made sweeping gains in the final round of France's municipal elections in what is widely viewed as a referendum on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's track record. (Report: G.Cragg)
  • LOCAL ELECTIONS
    French communists still standing
    France's Communist Party managed to halt its steady decline as it won local elections in 89 towns of over 9,000 inhabitants, though it lost several historic strongholds including Calais, Montreuil, Aubervilliers and the district of Seine-Saint-Denis.
  • FRANCE - LOCAL ELECTIONS
    Driving motorists through hell
    With 10.5 million trips every day, transportation is one of the key issues for Parisian voters. Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has thrown his weight behind a policy focused on keeping cars at bay.
  • FRANCE - LOCAL ELECTIONS
    A rare democratic opportunity for foreign nationals
    Jürgen Nefzger (photo) is one of 14,000 foreign nationals registered to vote in the Paris local election. Their ballots will hardly weigh on the result, but they mean a lot to those who fight for the rights of foreigners.

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    Paris' city hall in the Elysée's shadow
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