French President François Hollande is preparing a probable shake-up of his unpopular government after his Socialist Party suffered losses in nationwide municipal elections seen as a referendum on his leadership, reports ABC.
Disappointment with the Socialists' handling of the economy drove many voters to conservative or anti-immigrant far-right candidates in nationwide municipal elections Sunday.
Hollande met Monday morning Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were not meant to be public knowledge.
Ayrault's job is on the line and he said himself that the elections were "a defeat for the government." The government has failed to fulfill its promises to cut France's more than 10 percent unemployment and boost growth, which was just 0.3 percent last year, according to figures released Monday.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls is among names circulating as a possible replacement prime minister if Hollande decides to fire Ayrault.
Record-low voter turnout and poor showing for Socialist candidates "really sends a message to Hollande that he has to change his cabinet, he has to reshuffle," said Hall Gardner, professor of politics at the American University of Paris.
Changes are especially expected in the Finance Ministry, which has scared away investors with high and complex taxes and struggled to find solutions to chronic low growth and growing joblessness.
Hollande is expected to stick to a grand plan for a payroll tax cut aimed at creating jobs — even though it also involves unpopular spending cuts.
The biggest winners in Sunday's vote were candidates from the far right National Front, who won mayoral races in 12 towns and took 1,546 city and town council seats, the party said Monday. That's less than some Socialists had feared, but still a record-high number for the party, whose leader Marine Le Pen has tried to soften its xenophobic image and tapped into widespread discontent with mainstream politics.
Read more of this AP report published by ABC.