All times indicated are local (CET).
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00.15: The much-delayed second round in France's 2020 municipal elections has come to a close with two clear themes: a strong performance from the Green EELV party, often in alliance with the Parti Socialiste (PS) and others on the Left, and a record level of abstentionism.
Out of all the parties taking part there is little doubt that the environmentalists have been the clear winners. The EELV are now in control of major cities such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Besançon and Tours, and performed well in many other towns and cities too. The party's leader spoke of a 'green wave' sweeping the country.
However, the environmentalists' victories were often in alliance with parties of the Left. And in some cases, for example in Paris where the incumbent socialist Anne Hidalgo easily won a second term, it was the greens who played the junior partner in the triumph. In Marseille a broad alliance of left wing parties and the greens look as if they may have taken power from the Right in the major Mediterranean port city, though the final results are still not yet in.
The message appears to have been that where the EELV and the PS or other groups on the Left work together they can be a potent electoral weapon. Such alliances were not universal, however; in the major northern city of Lille the veteran socialist Martine Aubry narrowly beat off the challenge from an environmental candidate to win a fourth term as mayor.
The right-wing Les Républicains had some wins, too, notably holding onto the major south-west city of Toulouse, and its president Christian Jacob says his party now controls more than half of French towns with more than 9,000 inhabitants. The far-right had an isolated success in the southern city of Perpignan where Louis Aliot becomes the new mayor representing Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National.
The big loser, however, was without doubt President Emmanueal Macron's ruling La République en Marche (LREM) party, which as expected performed dismally. Even its one significant success – the re-election of prime minister Édouard Philippe as mayor of Le Havre - shows the ruling party's weakness at grassroots level. Philippe himself comes from a centre-right background and even now has not joined the LREM. The starkest symbol of the LREM's poor showing was probably the performance of its candidate in Paris, former health minister Agnès Buzyn, who managed just around 15% of the vote, and will probably not even get her own seat on the Paris city council.
The other big theme was the level of participation, with estimates suggesting it could be as low as 40%. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of the radical left La France Insoumise party, said this was the biggest abstention rate since 1958, adding: “The mass of French people are in civic war.”
Various reasons were put forward for the poor turnout; the fact that there was such a big gap between the two rounds of voting because of the Covid-19 crisis, fears over getting infected at polling stations and a general lack of interest in politics after the health crisis.
On Monday President Emmanuel Macron will attempt to tap into the clear enthusiasm for green policies when he meets members of the Citizens' Convention on Climate that he himself set up and which had come up with 149 policy initiatives. The president has promised a “strong response” to their proposals.
23.30: The 'green wave' has not, however, swept all before it. In a tight race in the major south-west city of Toulouse the incumbent right-wing mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc held off a challenge from the Green Antoine Maurice, who led a broad coalition of environmentalists and left-wing groups. Moudenc, who represents Les Républicains, was supported by the ruling La République En Marche (LREM).
22.56: A clear sign that the Green EELV had performed well in the municipal elections came with the announcement during the evening from President Emmanuel Macron that he will give a “strong response” to the Citizens' Convention on Climate on Monday. The Convention, set up by the president, brought together 150 citizens who have adopted 149 policy proposals, including one to hold on referendum on making 'ecocide' a crime in French law. President Macron will host the members of the Convention on Monday and will doubtless use the occasion to boost his own green credentials and attempt to wrestle back the initiative on this subject after the EELV's successes.
22.10: The biggest prize in these municipal elections is city hall in Paris and here the incumbent socialist Anne Hidalgo, in alliance with the Greens, easily beat off her challengers from the centre and right to win a second term as mayor of Paris. At one point the capital was seen as winnable by President Macron's LREM party. But the LREM candidate, former health minister Agnès Buzyn, managed just around 15% of the vote, far behind the Les Républicains candidate Rachida Dati on around 31% who was herself well beaten by Anne Hidalgo who picked up half the votes. The performance by Agnès Buzyn – a late replacement for the LREM after initial candidate and former government spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux was obliged to stand down – perhaps summed up the ruling party's dismal night. Its poor score means that the ruling party in France will have between just five and nine seats out of the 163 on the capital's council. Agnès Buzyn herself may not even get a seat on that council.
21.53: The theme of a 'green wave' – in alliance with other parties on the Left – seemed to be taking shape with the news that the major cities of Bordeaux in the south-west, Lyon in the east, Tours in the centre-west and and Strasbourg in the north-east have been won by Green EELV candidates. In Lille, the socialist Martine Aubry only just beat off the challenge from her green challenger.
21.40: One of the tightest elections was in the major northern city of Lille, where socialist Martine Aubry - the former first secretary of the Socialist Party and former minister - just managed to win a fourth mandate as mayor. She beat off the challenge of the Green EELV party candidate Stéphane Baly by just a couple of hundred votes.
21.12: But the other main theme – apart from successes from the Left and the Greens – is that of yet another record rate of abstention. Estimates suggest that barely more than 40% of eligible voters may have turned out, meaning that six in ten stayed home. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of the radical left La France Insoumise ('Unbowed France'), said this was the biggest abstention rate “since 1958” when France's Fifth Republic was created. “The mass of French people are in civic war,” he declared.
Mélenchon also pointed to the “massive failure” of the ruling LREM despite Édouard Philippe's win in Le Havre which was the “tree that hides the forest”. He praised the “remarkable success” of the Greens and praised the performance of some left-wing tickets around France. But he added: “It's hard to draw lessons from such a civic void.”
20.55: The Right, too, are claiming successes tonight. The president of the conservative Les Républicains (LR), Christian Jacob were “winning again” after the “setbacks” in the presidential and Parliamentary elections of2017. “For three years we've had a series of defeats, this evening it's a great victory,” he said. “More than 50% of towns with more than 9,000 inhabitants are now held by LR.”
But a notable absentee when it came to claiming victory was the President Macron's ruling La République en Marche (LREM) party, which has had a predictably miserable night. It is true that prime minister Édouard Philippe was comfortably re-elected as mayor of Le Havre; but it is worth noting that though Philippe, who comes from the centre-right, is no longer a member of Les Républicains, he has never joined LREM.
20.30: An early theme – predicted by many observers – has been a strong performance by the Green EELV party. The party's leader Éva Sas has even spoken tonight of a “green wave” and of a “new generation of environmentalists ready to govern”. Its local alliances with parties on the Left have certainly helped it, notably in wins at Poitiers in the west and Besançon in the east.
At the same time the Parti Socialiste (PS) has also performed strongly, often in alliance with the greens. Its first secretary Olivier Faure pointed to results in Brest, Saint-Denis, Périgueux, Laval, Chambéry and Besançon, and said “something is in the process of emerging, a social and environmentalist bloc”.
20.10: The north-east city of Nancy has been won by the Left. Challenger Mathieu Klein, who stood on a green, socialist and communist ticket, beat the incumbent Laurent Hénart of the ruling LREM and centrist MoDem, picking up around 55% of the vote.
20.05: The MP for the far-right Rassemblement National, Louis Aliot, has claimed victory in his bid to become mayor of the southern city of Perpignan.
20.01: At least one senior figure in the government will be happy tonight; prime minister Édouard Philippe has been re-elected as mayor of Le Havre in northern France with 58% of the vote, a convincing win.
19.50: Though the average turnout in France was a lowly 34.67 % at 5pm, in Corsica voters have turned out in larger numbers. The Corse-du-Sud département or county had a turnout of 71.02 % by the same time, while 53.68 % of electors had voted in Haute-Corse. In contrast just 25.74% of the electorate had voted in the western city of Nantes by 6pm.
19.40: In an early good sign for the Green EELV party, there are reports that the socialist mayor of Poitiers in western France, Alan Claeys, has conceded defeat to his green rival Léonore Moncond’huy, according to the local La Nouvelle République newspaper.
19.30: One of the most-watched contests today is at Le Havre in northern France where the current prime minister Édouard Philippe is seeking to gain re-election as mayor. His supporters are said to be confident of his chances against a list headed by communist Member of Parliament Jean-Paul Lecoq. If Philippe wins the position will be occupied by one of the other candidates on his list, until such time as is no longer prime minister. There has been huge speculation that President Emmanuel Macron may choose a new prime minister later this year despite the fact – or because? - Philippe is currently more popular than him in the opinion polls.
18.15: The turnout looks like being another record low. The Ministry of the Interior said the turnout by 17.00 was 34.67 %, which is four points lower than in the first round in March at the same time and well down on the figure for 2014 (52.36%). Polling companies are estimating that the final turnout could be as low as 41% or even 40%, meaning that six out of ten eligible voters would have stayed away. Reasons for this high abstention rate include the long delay between the two rounds of voting and the health precautions required at the polling stations because of Covid-19.
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The background: This second round of municipal elections takes France into uncharted electoral territory. It is being held today after being postponed from March 22nd because of the rapidly-developing coronavirus health crisis. Indeed, just two days after the first round held on March 15th France went into lockdown, and President Emmanuel Macron's insistence that the first round took place at all has drawn considerable criticism, amid claims it helped spread the virus.
Now, with France easing out of lockdown and life returning to something resembling normality, it is deemed safe to hold the second round, albeit with precautions and with protective equipment to the fore.
The first round saw a very low turnout and a poor performance by Macron's ruling La République en Marche party. This delayed second round, which involves a potential 16.5 million voters from the around 4,800 town and cities where there was no outright majority in the first round, is widely expected to see the same.
One of the key factors to watch out for is how the Green EELV party do, having performed well in March. Many observers expect them to be the big winners in this second round. There will also be a spotlight on the performance of Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National party, which has been trying to build up local power bases around the country.
The Parti Socialiste showed in the first round that it is able to hold on to its traditional fiefdoms and is expected to retain Paris with incumbent Anne Hidalgo, in alliance with the Greens. The radical left La France Insoumise and the right-wing Les Républicains will also be hoping for solid performances around the country.
But the real losers may well be Macron's La République en Marche (LREM) which since its creation in 2017 has largely failed to forge grassroots support around the country, even in large urban areas where it is popular at a national level.
Inevitably the results will be seen by many as a referendum on President Macron's first three years in office, his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his plans to tackle the economic crisis and, to a much lesser extent, as a pointer to his prospects in 2022.