(Scroll down to bottom of page for a brief introduction to the elections).
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Update Monday December 7th at 7 p.m.:
These are the final results and statistics of voting in the December 6th first round of France’s two-round regional elections, as released by the interior ministry on Monday. Indicated here are the parties which came in as the top three, and so does not show the votes garnered by the smaller parties, including the Greens.
Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine
Front National: 36.06 %
Les Républicains: 25.83 %
Socialist Party: 16.11 %
Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes
Socialist Party: 30.39 %
Les Républicains: 27.19 %
Front National: 23.23 %
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes
Les Républicains: 31.73 %
Front National: 25.52 %
Socialist Party: 23,93 %
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Front National: 31.48%
Les Républicains: 24%
Socialist Party: 22.99%
Brittany
Socialist Party: 34.92%
Les Républicains: 23.46%
Front National: 18.17%
Centre-Val-de-Loire
Front Nationa : 30.49%
Les Républicains: 26.25%
Socialist Party: 24.31%
Corsica
Independent Left: 18.42%
Regionalist: 17.62%
Les Républicains: 13.17%
Ile-de-France (Greater Paris Region)
Les Républicains : 30.51%
Socialist Party: 25.19%
Front National: 18.41%
Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrenées
Front National: 31.83%
Socialist Party: 24.41%
Les Républicains: 18.4%
Nord-Pas-De-Calais-Picardie
Front National: 40.64%
Les Républicains: 24.96%
Socialist Party: 18.12 %
Normandy
Les Républicains: 27.91%
Front National: 27.71%
Socialist Party: 23.52%
Pays-de-la-Loire
Les Républicains: 33.49%
Socialist Party: 25.75%
Front National: 21.35%
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
Front National: 40.55%
Les Républicains: 26.48%
Socialist Party: 16.59%
Turnout across the country was 50.9% (compared with 46.34% in the first round of the last regional elections held in 2010). In precise figures, 22, 018, 949 voters took part in the poll, out of a registered electorate of 43, 960,699.
Blank votes (a protest vote designating no candidate) numbered 526,595 and another 347,111 were declared invalid (these can also include protest votes but which were not made using the ‘white ballot’ provided).
No region saw a party win 50% or more, so voters in every one of them are called back to the polls on Sunday December 13th for the final knockout result.
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Last election night update at 1.40 a.m. (French local time, CET):
With 92% of votes cast by registered voters now counted, the national share of the total of votes across the 13 mainland regions of France this Sunday gave the lead position to the Front National, with 28.69%. In second place is the principal conservative opposition party Les Républicains and its centre-right allies, the UDI and Modem, who together totalled a 26.89% share of the overall vote. The third place went to the ruling Socialist Party and its allies who garnered 23.17% of the total national votes.
No single region was won outright after Sunday’s first-round vote, none of the parties having won 50% or more in any one region.
As already reported below, the Front National has taken the lead in six of the 13 regions, the conservative Les Républicains and its centre-right allies in four and the Socialist party and its allies in three (including Corisca).
The result of the vote as counted so far, region by region, is as follows:
- Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine (final result): Florian Philippot (Front National) 36.06 %, Philippe Richert (Les Républicains) 25.83 %, Jean-Pierre Masseret (Socialist Party) 16.11 %.
- Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes (93 % of votes counted): Alain Rousset (Socialist Party) 30.20 %, Virginie Calmels (Les Républicains) 26.88 %, Jacques Colombier (Front National) 23.78 %.
- Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (85 % of votes counted): Laurent Wauquiez (Les Républicains) 32.34 %, Christophe Boudot (Front National) 26.42 %, Jean-Jack Queyranne (Socialist Party) 22.95 %.
- Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (99 % of votes counted): Sophie Montel (Front National) 31.50 % , François Sauvadet (UDI-Les Républicains) 24.05 %, Marie-Guite Dufay (Socialist Party) 22.99 %.
- Bretagne (final result): Jean-Yves Le Drian (Socialist Party) 34.92 %, Marc Le Fur (Les Républicains) 23.46 %, Gilles Penelle (Front National) 18.17 %.
- Centre-Val-de-Loire (final result): Philippe Loiseau (FN) 30.95 %, Philippe Vigier (Les Républicains and centre-right ally UDI) 26.27 %, François Bonneau (Socialist Party-and centre-left ally PRG) 24.03 %.
- Corsica (final result): Paul Giacobbi (Left) 18.35 %, Gilles Simeoni (regionalist) 17,63 %, Camille de Rocca Serra (independent Right) 13.23 %.
- La Réunion (final result): Didier Robert (Union of the Right) 40.36 %, Huguette Bello (Union of the Left) 23.80 %, Thierry Robert (centrist) 20.32 %
- Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées (86 % votes counted) : Louis Aliot (Front National) 33.40 %, Carole Delga (Socialist Party, affiliated allies and Greens) Écologie 23.89 %, Dominique Reynié (Les Républicains and centre-right allies UDI, Modem and CPNT) 18.69 %.
- Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie (89 % of votes counted): Marine Le Pen (Front National) 41.65 %, Xavier Bertrand (Les Républicains) 25.12 %, Pierre de Saintignon (Socialist Party) 17.34 %.
- Normandy (final results): Hervé Morin (centre-right UDI) 27.91 %, Nicolas Bay (Front National) 27.71 %, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol (Socialist Party) 23.52 %.
- Pays de la Loire (86 % of votes counted): Bruno Retailleau (Les Républicains with centre-right UDI) 34.42 %, Christophe Clergeau (Socialist Party) 24.37 %, Pascal Gannat (Front National) 22.50 %.
- Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (64 % of votes counted): Marion-Maréchal Le Pen (Front National 42.87 %, Christian Estrosi (Les Républicains and conservative and centre-right allies) 24.24 %, Christophe Castaner (Socialist Party and centre-left allies) 16.11 %.
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In provisional results issued by the interior ministry at 10.30 p.m., the Front National took the highest share of the total votes cast across France, with 29.88%. In second place are the conservative Les Républicains party and its centre-right allies the UDI and the Modem with a 26.48% share of the vote, while the third-placed Socialist Party garnered 22.89% of votes cast.
According to the ministry figures, the Front National came in first place in the following six regions: Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées, Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine, Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
The conservative Right and centre-right are in first place in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Normandie and Pays-de-la-Loire regions.
The socialists and their allies came first in the regions of Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes and Brittany, and in the territorial elections in Corsica.
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Two official results are through:
In the Burgundy-Franche Comté region of central and eastern France, the Front National came first with 31.48% of the vote, in second place was the conservative Right and its allies with 24%, and in third place the socialists and their allies with 22.99%. Turnout was 50.56%
In the central-northern Normandy region, where the turnout was 49.5%, the conservative Right and its allies came first with 27.91%, followed by the Front National in second place with 27.71%, and in third place were the socialists with 23.52%.
No-one scored 50% or more here, as it appears is likely to be the case in all the regions, so these are headed for a second-round knockout next Sunday.
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Socialist Party general secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis announced that it would proceed with “republican blockades” in the Nord-pas-de-Calais-Picardie region where Front National leader Marine Le Pen has gained the lead score (more than 40%) and also in the south-east Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region where her niece Marion Maréchal Le Pen has also come out on top (more than 40%). This refers to the withdrawal of socialist candidates from the second round in those constituencies (in the départements, or counties, that make up the region) where the candidate for the mainstream Right is best placed to defeat the Front National. “The Socialist Party lists [of councillor candidates] will be present there where the total vote of the Left allows it to [win] and thereby block the road for the Front National,” said Cambadélis.
“In the regions running the risk of the Front National, where the Left does not lead over the Right, the Socialist Party has decided to mount the republican blockade, notably in the Nord-pas-de-Calais-Picardie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.”
That is an interesting development. The socialist lead candidate in the PACA region appeared earlier this evening to dismiss the idea of pulling out his candidates in this process of “republican blockades”. Will he toe the party line? Probably. To better understand the problems for the socialists – and the Left in general – in these elections in PACA, do see the report from the region by Mediapart’s Ellen Salvi, available here.
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The outgoing council of the Greater Paris Region, the Ile-de-France, is – just like Paris city hall - socialist-led. Predictions of a socialist defeat at the hands of the conservatives have been mounting over recent weeks. But Bartelone is defiant. He later declared:
“We are in position to take the Ile-de-France in the second round.”
“I call for a total rallying, not one vote on the Left, not one ecologist vote must be missing”
“I am proud that in our region we have been able to contain the bite of the Front National.”
Historically, the Front National scores relatively poorly in local elections in the French capital.
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In the Greater Paris Region, the conservative Les Républicains party list, headed by former minister Valérie Pécresse, is forecast as having the lead share of the vote, with between 30.5% and 34%, ahead of the Socialist Party list headed by National Assembly speaker Claude Bartelone in second place and the Front National in third.
Bartelone tweeted that if all votes for the Left were counted (from radical-left to the ecologists) they together come out in first place. Wishful thinking for the second round?
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Speaking at a press conference on Sunday evening to comment on provisional results provided by the interior ministry, Front National leader Marine Le Pen said:”The national movement is from now on incontestably the leading party in France [...] The French people can be proud to have not given in to the anti-democratic political and media orders [...] The Front National is the only truly republican front because it is the only one to defend the nation and its sovereignty. It is the only one that could win back the lost territories of the [French] republic, of Calais or our suburbs, and give their value back to the [rural] territories of our countryside.”
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The highest turnout was in the Mediterranean island of Corsica, while second and third were, respectively, the north-east Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie and the south-east Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur (PACA) regions. That is very significant because the latter two are the regions where the Front National has made its biggest scores, with more than a 40% share of votes cast.
The Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie is where party leader Marine Le Pen is standing while her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – who turns 26-years-old next week – is gunning to run the PACA regional council.
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According to exit poll results, the far-right Front National has recorded the highest share of votes in six and possibly seven regions, while the conservative Les Républicains (LR) party has come out on top in four and the Socialist Party in two.
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In terms of the total votes cast across the country on Sunday, exit poll results suggest the following:
Front National: 30,8 %.
Conservative Right and centre-right: 27,2 %.
Socialist Party and its independent socialist allies: 22,7 %.
The radical-left Front de Gauche and the Green EELV party a joint: 10,1 %.
In the last regional elections held in 2010, the Front National had an 11.4% share of the vote nationwide.
Below is the turnout region by region at 5p.m. this afternoon:
Quick guide to the French regional elections:
France is electing the members and leaders of the councils that are to govern the country’s 13 new ‘super’ regions, created earlier this year in a reform of the previous 22. The two rounds of voting on December 6th and December 13th are the first regional elections to be held since 2010.
The total number of registered voters is 44.6 million.
They are also the first elections to be held since the November 13th Paris terrorist attacks and will offer a significant picture of the French political map, notably the confirmation or disproving of the high level of support for the far-right Front National party in opinion surveys
The regional candidates are fielded in separate party lists in each département (county) that make up a region. The parties name a lead candidate who will become, if his or her party’s lists win a majority, the president of the council concerned.
Under the two-round system, only those parties which garner 50% or more of the vote can be elected outright in the first round. Whichever party gains less than that but at least 10% will go through for a second and final knockout round next Sunday.
Few regions are expected to produce an outright winner in the first round, but the scores from many are likely to give a good idea of the probable outcome next Sunday. Above all, this important test of the French political map will confirm or not forecasts of a strong showing for the far-right Front National party. With the ruling Socialist Party expected to suffer a debacle overall, there is a question mark over how much the conservative opposition Les Républicains party (the former UMP) will benefit, notably given the rise in popularity of president François Hollande and prime minister Manuel Valls in their management of the crisis caused by the November 13th terrorist attacks in Paris.
The real thorny issue for the socialists lies with the second round: in those regions where the Front National produces a high score in the first round, and where the socialists come behind the conservatives, will they withdraw their candidates in an effort to encourage voters to switch to the conservatives for the purpose of avoiding a far-right victory? Socialist leaders recently proposed that the conservatives agree on a pact by which, in the case of a strong Front National score in the first round, either of the mainstream parties which finds itself unable to win the second round should withdraw candidates. Les Républicain party leader Nicolas Sarkozy has refused such a deal, and now the socialists face making, alone, painful case-by-case decisions.
Elections will also be held to decide the general councils of France’s two Caribbean island départements, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and territorial councils in French Guyana and the Indian Ocean island La Réunion.
Only French nationals aged 18 and over can take part in the regional elections.
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