élections

The first round of voting in France's 'départementales' or county elections on Sunday threw up some important results. While it did not do as well as opinion polls had predicted, failing to become France's 'leading party', the far-right National Front still picked up around 25% of the vote. Meanwhile the ruling Socialist Party only attracted just over 21% support in an election in which it has traditionally performed well. A third noteworthy outcome was the victory of the alliance between the centre-right UDI and the right-wing UMP, led by Nicolas Sarkozy. Here Mediapart journalists examine the political situation ahead of next Sunday's second and decisive round. First Stéphane Alliès argues that leaders of the Socialist Party, and in particular the prime minister Manuel Valls, are deluding themselves in thinking that the party “held up” well in the vote. Then Ellen Salvi analyses the performance of the centre-right, where the victory of the UDI-UMP alliance has rather overshadowed any success on the part of former president Sarkozy.

Speaking on French television, Manuel Valls said he was 'scared for my country, I'm scared that it will crack in the face of the Front National'.

Victory for Marine Le Pen's far-right party would be a disaster for both France and Europe, argues The Financial Times.

Despite a low-key start to the campaign to elect councils for France's départements or counties later this month, new rules for these elections do herald genuine changes in French local politics. For the first time there will be strict male-female parity among those elected, the new councillors will be noticeably younger and the age-old tradition of combining both a local and a parliamentary post is starting to fade. But as Mathieu Magnaudeix reports, this welcome progress risks being largely undermined by the fact that the départements themselves, which date from the time of the French Revolution, are increasingly being marginalised by the ascendancy of regions and metropolitan areas. Indeed, voters will go to the polls not even knowing what powers the councillors they elect will have in the future.

Poll gives far-right party 29 per cent of support with growing backing in rural areas and in France's blue-collar or middle-class suburbs.

Frédéric Chatillon, who runs a company that provides services for Le Pen's Front National party, has been placed under formal investigation for fraud, misuse of corporate assets, laundering the proceeds of the misuse of corporate assets, forgery and use of false instruments. Chatillon, who was held in custody for 48 hours, is an old friend of Marine Le Pen and the former head of an extreme-right student organisation. The allegations stem from an investigation into the financing of the far-right party's local election campaign in 2011, parliamentary elections in 2012 and the presidential campaign in the same year. Marine Le Pen says she is “not legally involved” in the affair.

The former French president, eyeing a return to power, scored less in the UMP party election than expected, collecting 64.5% of votes cast.

For the last three years France's upper chamber of parliament, the Senate, has been under the political control of the Left, a rarity in the history of the Fifth Republic. On Sunday that brief interlude ended when, as expected, the Right regained control of the chamber during partial elections, with the centre-right faring especially well. And for the first time the far-right Front National gained entry to the Senate, picking up two seats. Meanwhile the ruling Socialist Party took comfort from the fact that a number of its candidates fared better than expected, though there were some symbolic defeats for key allies of President François Hollande. Mathieu Magnaudeix analyses the significance of the weekend's elections.

The Front National won two seats in Sunday's senatorial elections, when the socialists and their allies lost their majority in favour of the Right. 

Clinton is on a media tour to promote her new book, though many see the increased media exposure as a prelude to a presidential campaign.

France is coming close to one of its periodic political 'explosions' that will profoundly re-shape the EU, argues British economist Roger Bootle.

Prime minister Manuel Valls says move will exempt 1.8 million households from income tax, with €1 billion cost funded by anti tax fraud measures. 

Attacking a growing tide of Euroscepticism in France, Hollande said that the EU had brought peace and economic stability to the continent.

French president tells workers that if jobless totals stay same 'I have either no reason to be a candidate or no chance of being re-elected'.