Your Rassemblement National could not win in a single region, according to forecasts published after the election deadline. The conservatives became the strongest force. They were also able to intercept Thierry Mariani, the leading RN candidate after the first ballot, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region in the south of France.
According to a forecast by the channel France 2, Muselier got 42 percent of the vote, while the conservative regional president Renaud Muselier was confirmed in office with 57 percent. A victory in the region known as “PACA” would have been an important springboard for the right-wing populist party in the election battle for the highest office in the coming spring. RN boss Le Pen then wants to challenge incumbent Emmanuel Macron, who defeated her with a clear majority four years ago in the runoff election.
Participation remained low in the second round as well. After the historically low value of 33.3 percent last Sunday, many voters once again stayed away from the vote. The participation was only 27.9 percent on Sunday afternoon, as reported by the Interior Ministry. That was just over a point more than a week ago. The regional elections are considered the final test of the mood for the presidential election in ten months.
Civil rights and the socialists have so far held most of the regions in the country – and that is unlikely to change after the elections. President Macron’s LREM party did not manage to anchor itself in the regions – it has no chance of appointing a regional president. “Ultimately, nobody needs him,” commented the daily newspaper “Le Figaro”, referring to the 43-year-old Macron, who started out as a whiz kid in the Élysée Palace in 2017. The former investment banker set out to break the traditional left-right regime in French politics. The civil right is still looking for a candidate for 2022 – the course for this should be set in the regional elections.
The regions of France have important competencies in areas such as public transport, education and business development. In the centrally organized neighboring country, however, their influence is limited compared to the German or Austrian federal states. Because of the corona pandemic, the elections had been postponed by three months.
