France’s Socialists are hoping that François Hollande’s popularity surge as a result of his handling of the Paris terrorist attacks is about to bring the party’s long losing streak to an end, reports The Observer.
A byelection in eastern France is set to return a Socialist party (PS) candidate, despite a close-run second-round runoff with the far-right Front National (FN), which led the first vote a week ago.
The vote has sparked controversy: the opposition centre-right UMP party – backed by its leader, former president Nicolas Sarkozy – has decided not to advise supporters to vote PS to block the FN. A number of leading UMP heavyweights, including former prime minister Alain Juppé, a Sarkozy rival, have openly defied the party’s decision.
Victory in the Doubs département, on the French-Swiss border, would be the first parliamentary gain for the Socialist government since it came to power in 2012, winning 295 of the 577 seats. Since then it has seen its absolute majority whittled away and was hit with catastrophic showings in local and European elections last year.
Sunday’s byelection was sparked by former minister Pierre Moscovici’s resignation to take up a post in the European commission. Unless the PS can hold on to the seat, it will lose its absolute majority.
Hollande’s popularity more than doubled in the wake of the attacks on Paris by jihadi gunmen that left 17 people dead. Pollsters Ifop described the jump as “rare and historic”. An Ifop poll last Thursday suggested that the Socialist candidate in Doubs, Frédéric Barbier, would win with 53% against 47%. However, Ifop admitted the vote was so close that it could give no accurate prediction of the results.