French voters headed to the polls Sunday in the second round of voting in nationwide local elections, with the far-right looking to consolidate an unprecedented first-round showing, reports FRANCE 24.
In a vote that could see a significant shake-up to the country’s political landscape, the elections will also result in the capital Paris having a female mayor for the first time, and possibly the country having a new prime minister.
Following poor results in last Sunday’s first round of voting, President François Hollande’s ruling Socialists are braced for further losses and the president is tipped to react by ordering a cabinet reshuffle that could see the popular Interior Minister Manuel Valls installed as Prime Minister, replacing current premier Jean-Marc Ayrault.
As with the first round, however, low voter turnout is likely to be an issue. Polls opened at 8am (Paris time) and by midday the turnout stood at 19.83 percent.
That was down on the 23.68 percent recorded at the same stage of last Sunday’s first round, which went on to see an overall participation rate of just 36.45 percent – a record low in France.
Low turnout was deemed to be a factor in a poor showing for François Hollande’s ruling Socialists in the first round and the party is braced for further losses this time around.
If that happens, the president is tipped to react by ordering a cabinet reshuffle that could see the popular Interior Minister Manuel Valls installed as Prime Minister, replacing current premier Jean-Marc Ayrault.
There have also been reports that Hollande is seeking to ramp up the pro-business credentials of his government by bringing veteran industrialist Louis Gallois or former World Trade Organisation director Pascal Lamy into the cabinet.
There have also been reports that Hollande is seeking to ramp up the pro-business credentials of his government by bringing veteran industrialist Louis Gallois or former World Trade Organisation director Pascal Lamy into the cabinet.
Hollande told his ministers on Wednesday that they needed to "learn a lesson" from the Socialists' poor showing in the first round in which the left took 38.2 percent of the vote, compared to 46.44 percent for the right.
In Paris, Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo will take on Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet of the centre-right UMP in the battle to become the first female mayor of the capital.
Hidalgo, who has served for 13 years as deputy to outgoing Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, came out marginally on top after the first round of voting, though the contest with former minister Kosciusko-Morizet, known as NKM, was closer than many had predicted.
The biggest story of the first round, though, was the strong performance by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) party, which took five percent of the vote in last week’s polling, up from 0.9 percent in the first round of the last municipal polls in 2008, despite only being able to field candidates in a minority of municipalities.
The FN has already claimed the mayor's seat in Henin-Beaumont in northern France, having secured more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.