The French municipal elections of 2008 were held on 9 and 16 March to elect the municipal councils of France's 36,782 communes. The first task of each newly constituted municipal council was to elect a mayor.

Municipal councilors, and the mayors they elect, ordinarily serve a term of six years. However those who took office following the last municipal elections, held on 11 and 18 March 2001, had their terms extended to seven years by an Act of the French parliament[1] designed to avoid an overloading of the electoral calendar in 2007.[2]

Results

The left gained back grounds lost in 2001 and in previous elections and sent a message of warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy, in power since 2007. The PS gained cities like Toulouse, Strasbourg, Amiens, Saint-Étienne and Reims. The left also held on easily to most of its cities, including Paris and Lyon. The close election in Marseille, however, was won by the UMP incumbent. The right did poorly but held on to some of its cities like Bordeaux, Le Havre, Nice, Toulon or Aix-en-Provence. Among right-wing gains were the cities of Chaumont, Le-Puy-en-Velay, and Calais (ending 37 years of Communist control).

François Bayrou's centrist MoDem did poorly, although MoDem incumbents generally won. However, Bayrou himself was defeated (by the PS) in his hometown of Pau. Between the two rounds the MoDem followed three strategies- maintain its list in the runoffs, if qualified; ally with the right (as in Toulouse); or ally with the left (as in Marseille).

The far-right FN did extremely poorly, winning only 0.93% nationwide and qualifying for the runoff in only 7 cities with 30,000+ population (40 in 2001, 105 in 1995).

The Greens regained grounds lost in 2007, the most notable Green gain was by Dominique Voynet in Montreuil. However, the Green vote was halved in Paris over 2001.

The PCF held most of its ground in its Seine-Saint-Denis strongholds (despite most incumbents facing Socialist candidates) but also in other PCF cities (Nanterre, Arles). It gained Dieppe and Vierzon while losing Calais (to UMP) and Aubervilliers (to PS).

Important races

Paris

The popular Socialist incumbent Bertrand Delanoë was very easily re-elected. Françoise de Panafieu represented the centre-right UMP as the right tried, in vain, to regain the capital. Among high-profile candidates on her lists is the Justice Minister Rachida Dati, UMP elected in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.[3]

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux, the incumbent Mayor and former Prime Minister Alain Juppé, defeated in the 2007 parliamentary election, stood for re-election. The Socialist candidate was Aquitaine President Alain Rousset. The centrist MoDem, led by François Bayrou, announced its support for Juppé. Juppé was re-elected by the first round with over 56% of votes cast, even improving over 2001.

Municipal Election 2008: Bordeaux
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UMP Alain Juppé* 46,087 56.62
PS Alain Rousset 27,790 34.14
LCR Emmanuel Bichindaritz 2,484 3.05
FN Jacques Colombier 2,111 2.59
DIV Marc Vanhove 1,201 1.48
LC Adrien Bonnet 1,144 1.41 +1.41
LO Denis Lacoste 502 0.62
DVG Mohamed Akrout 77 0.09
Turnout 82,354 61.70
UMP hold Swing

Lyon

In 2001, the Socialist Gérard Collomb won the country's second largest city from the UDF. Lyon had been considered a stronghold for the centrist UDF in previous years. In 2008, former UMP Transportation Minister Dominique Perben tried to win back the city. Surprisingly, the two highly presumed candidates for the centrist MoDem and the far-right National Front, Azouz Begag and Bruno Gollnisch respectively both announced their intentions not to stand.

In February, after a fight with MoDem leader François Bayrou, the MoDem list leader integrated the UMP list, but Bayrou found another list leader. The MoDem list was also shaken after one of its list was rejected because one of its candidates was also on a FN list.

With his sky-high popularity, Collomb was re-elected by the first round and Perben himself was defeated in his sector.

Marseille

In the country's third largest city, Jean-Claude Gaudin of the UMP faced Socialist Senator Jean-Noël Guérini, FN candidate Stéphane Ravier, and MoDem MEP Jean-Luc Bennahmias. The race was very close and both sides had a chance to win, but Gaudin was re-elected narrowly.

Nice

The right was divided in this generally right-wing city, with incumbent mayor Jacques Peyrat staging a dissident candidacy against UMP candidate Christian Estrosi. Estrosi won 38% to Peyrat's 23%. However, the PS candidate Patrick Allemand, with his 22%, also qualified for a three-way runoff.

Municipal Election 2008: Nice
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UMP Christian Estrosi 46,576 38.27
UMP Jacques Peyrat 28,161 23.14
PS Patrick Allemand 27,141 22.30
PRG Patrick Mottard 7,887 6.48
FN Lydia Schenardi 5,068 4.16
MoDem Hervé Caël 3,781 3.11
Far right Philippe Vardon 3,686 3.03
LCR Bruno Della Sudda 2,413 1.98
Turnout 124,767 58.16
UMP Christian Estrosi 51,792 41.33
PS Patrick Allemand 41,561 33.17
UMP Jacques Peyrat* 31,952 25.50
Turnout 125,305 60
UMP gain from UMP Swing

Rennes

In this Socialist city, longtime mayor Edmond Hervé (since 1977) did not lead the PS list in this election, he was replaced by Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande mayor Daniel Delaveau, who was easily elected. The MoDem candidate, with her 10%, also won a place in the runoff.

Municipal Election 2008: Rennes
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PS Daniel Delaveau 30,735 46.98
UMP Karim Boudjema 17,084 26.11
MoDem Caroline Ollivro 6,692 10.23
LV Nicole Kiil-Nielsen 5,841 8.93
Far left Valerie Faucheux 3,263 4.99
LO Raymond Madec 1,151 1.76
Workers' Party Carine Weber 661 1.01
Turnout 67,134 56.93 +3.97
PS Daniel Delaveau 37,169 60.40
UMP Karim Boudjema 16,885 27.44
MoDem Caroline Ollivro 7,480 12.16
Turnout 61,534 53.
PS hold Swing

Toulouse

Jean-Luc Moudenc of the UMP faced a very tough race against the left, which swept the city in the Presidential and Legislative elections held in 2007. Contrary to polls, Moudenc came out on top of the first round with 42% to the PS's 39%. Following the first round, he merged his lists with the MoDem. However, he lost to Pierre Cohen, the PS candidate.

Municipal Election 2008: Toulouse
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UMP Jean-Luc Moudenc* 57,303 42.60
PS Pierre Cohen 52,455 39.00
MoDem Jean-Luc Forget 7,936 5.90
DVG François Simon 7,293 5.42
LCR Myriam Martin 6,817 5.07
MoDem André Gallego 1,155 0.86
LO Sandra Torremocha 1,112 0.83
Far left Thierry Dupin 446 0.33
Turnout 137,283 46.50
PS Pierre Cohen 73,414 50.42
UMP Jean-Luc Moudenc* 72,205 49.58
Turnout 145,619 61
PS gain from UMP Swing

Lille

Socialist incumbent Martine Aubry ran for re-election, with 6 candidates opposing her. The Greens, although they qualified for the runoff, preferred to merge with Aubry's PS lists, as did the MoDem, which chose to merge with the Left list in Lille, and for the Right one in other cities.

Municipal Election 2008: Lille
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PS Martine Aubry* 27,202 46.02
UMP Sébastien Huyghe 12,791 21.64
LV Eric Quiquet 6,848 11.58
MoDem Jacques Richir 4,603 7.79
FN Éric Dillies 3,317 5.61
LCR Jan Pauwels 2,337 3.95
LO Nicole Baudrin 1,373 2.32
DVG Etienne Forest 642 1.09
Turnout 60,599 48.83
PS Martine Aubry* 35,226 66.56
UMP Sébastien Huyghe 17,700 33.44
Turnout 52,926 44
PS hold Swing

Strasbourg

The capital of Alsace, Strasbourg was gained by the right from the left in 2001. However, in 2008, the UMP incumbent Fabienne Keller could be potentially defeated by the PS's Roland Ries. A poll showed her defeated 53–47 in the runoff.[4]

Municipal Election 2008: Strasbourg
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PS Roland Ries 32,753 43.90
UMP Fabienne Keller* 25,314 33.93
LV Alain Jund 4,752 6.37
MoDem Chantal Cutajar 4,280 5.74
FN Christian Cotelle 2,121 2.84
Alsace d'Abord Robert Spieler 1,616 2.17
LCR Marcel Wolff 1,394 1.87
DIV Mohammed Latreche 1,047 1.40
DVG Jamal Boussif 540 0.72
LO Roland Robert 504 0.68
Far left Pascal Fischer 290 0.39
Turnout 75,893 54.68
PS Roland Ries 44,935 58.33
UMP Fabienne Keller* 32,097 41.66
Turnout
PS gain from UMP Swing

Ethnic pluralism

For the first time ever, the three main parties (center-right UMP, centrist MoDem, and center-left PS) put on top of a 50-odd lists candidates with a non-European ethnic background ("candidats de la diversité"), most either from North Africa, a few from the French Caribbean departments or sub-Saharan Africa, most against incumbent mayors from the opposite party, thus with lower chances to succeed.[5][6]

Candidates posters for the French municipal elections in 2008

There were only seven incumbent mayors in Metropolitan France with non-European roots, all in rural communes with less than 5,000 inhabitants where the percentage of foreign stock population is close to nil:

The six who were again candidates in their commune were reelected in the first round with results varying from 60% to 88% of the votes, and Auguste Senghor, candidate in another commune far away from the previous one, was the only candidate elected there in the first round with 52% of the votes.

Two more small municipal councils elected mayors with non-European roots: Volvic (Puy-de-Dôme, 4,202 inhabitants) elected the Harki activist Mohand Hamoumou (miscellaneous right) and Morey (Saône-et-Loire, 184 inhabitants), Kader Atteye, whose parents came from Djibouti, but 5 councillors out of 11 resigned in protest over the election of a black mayor[10][11]

Only one candidat de la diversité heading a list in a town of more than 10,000 inhabitants was elected in the first round: Eddie Aït, already a regional councillor and departmental leader for the Left Radical Party (centre-left) beat the incumbent UMP mayor of Carrières-sous-Poissy (Yvelines, 13,472 inhabitants) with 62.4% of the votes and was elected as mayor. Another was elected mayor after the second round, Philippe N'Guyen Tahnn (PS) in Vernon (Eure, 23,700 inhabitants)

The left-wing list headed by Samia Ghali (PS vice-president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional council) won in the first round in the VIIIth secteur (borough) of Marseilles (92,100 inhabitants) with 52.30%. Had the left won in Marseilles, she had been promised the first adjunct-mayorship, finally she was elected mayor of this secteur, succeeding the incumbent Communist mayor.

The UMP list headed by Justice minister Rachida Dati got 49.50% in the first round in the 7th arrondissement of Paris (55,700 inhabitants). She was elected maire d'arrondissement after the second round.

Results

CityPopulation (1999)IncumbentElected 2008
Paris2 125 246Bertrand Delanoë
Marseille798 430Jean-Claude Gaudin
Lyon445 452Gérard Collomb
Toulouse390 350Jean-Luc MoudencPierre Cohen
Nice342 738Jacques PeyratChristian Estrosi
Nantes270 251Jean-Marc Ayrault
Strasbourg264 115Fabienne KellerRoland Ries
Montpellier225 392Hélène Mandroux-Colas
Bordeaux215 363Alain Juppé
Lille212 597Martine Aubry
Rennes206 229Edmond HervéDaniel Delaveau
Le Havre190 905Antoine Rufenacht
Reims187 206Jean-Louis SchneiterAdeline Hazan
Saint-Étienne180 210Michel ThiollièreMaurice Vincent
Toulon160 639Hubert Falco
Grenoble153 317Michel Destot
Angers151 279Jean-Claude Antonini
Brest149 634François Cuillandre
Le Mans146 105Jean-Claude Boulard
Clermont-Ferrand137 140Serge Godard
Amiens135 510Gilles de RobienGilles Demailly
Aix-en-Provence134 222Maryse Joissains-Masini
Limoges137 140Alain Rodet
Nîmes133 424Jean-Paul Fournier
Tours132 820Jean Germain

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Municipal elections in France (2008).

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Act number 2005-1563 of the 15 December 2005 (in French)
  2. ↑ Four other rounds of voting were already due to be held in that year: two rounds of the presidential election in April/May and two rounds of the legislative elections scheduled for June 2007
  3. ↑ Sciolino, Elaine (13 January 2008). "French Cabinet Position Not Enough? Then Try Mayor". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  4. ↑ "Le climat politique à Strasbourg". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  5. ↑ Élections municipales françaises de 2008 – Diversité
  6. ↑ Candidats d'origine non-européenne aux élections municipales et cantonales de mars 2008 en métropole
  7. ↑ "Auguste Senghor se présente à Saint-Briac-sur-Mer". Le Nouvel Observateur. France. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  8. ↑ Saint-Briac. De Lalonde à Senghor Archived 20 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Le Télégramme, 18 March 2008
  9. ↑ Ghislaine Buffard (26 February 1997). "Ils voient en moi un maire, pas un étranger" (in French). Aujourd'hui en France. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  10. ↑ Alain Bollery, La tristesse d'un maire noir, Le Parisien, 31 March 2008
  11. ↑ Alexis De La Fontaine, La fronde des conseillers municipaux contre un maire noir, RTL, 31 March 2008
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