Posted on 03/09/2008 8:52:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PARIS - Partial results showed President Nicolas Sarkozy's backers losing in Paris and other key French cities Sunday in the first round of municipal elections seen as a referendum on the increasingly unpopular conservative.
Official results of the total vote nationwide showed candidates from Sarkozy's UMP party and its allies with 45.5 percent and the Socialists and their allies with 47 percent.
The total was not broken down by city, but projections based on partial results by the polling agencies Ipsos and TNS-Sofres showed Socialists on track to take over key cities previously held by the right, including Strasbourg, Reims, Rouen and Caen.
In Paris, Ipsos' projections showed popular Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in the lead. Lyon's Socialist mayor won re-election outright.
Final results for each city were expected Monday.
Individual campaigns focused on local issues such as parks and public transport. But analysts said the overall outcome could affect Sarkozy's appetite for reforms of Europe's third-largest economy.
Twenty-two of Sarkozy's ministers — two-thirds of the government — were running in the elections.
Sarkozy's once-soaring popularity ratings have withered in recent weeks amid increasing frustration with what critics consider an ostentatious and impetuous presidential style. While Sarkozy's dramatic romance and marriage to model and singer Carla Bruni dominated headlines, many voters feel their economic concerns have been ignored.
Sarkozy wooed voters last year with a campaign pledging to break with the rigid labor laws and high taxes of the past, but has pushed through mostly minor reforms.
His sinking approval ratings — which have dipped to around 37-40 percent from a high of around 65 percent in July — were seen as a liability for several candidates from his UMP party in the local elections.
The left hoped to turn the tide after a wave of victories by conservatives in the last municipal elections, in 2001, and in the May presidential election.
Voting was taking place in nearly 36,700 cities, towns and villages across France.
Even the final results will be far from definitive.
Several candidates from parties across the spectrum were running in most races. That means that some towns where a Socialist candidate was in the lead Sunday, for example, could end up in conservative hands next week thanks to centrist or other voters.
Sarkozy better get his rear in gear.
Too bad.
France had a chance.
He started off with a bang, but then his Clintonian behavior since the election has been disgraceful.
I hate Frence. France sucks too.
Didn’t he just win....??
>> “many voters feel their economic concerns have been ignored.”
Conservative leaders have greater challenges and are held to higher standards than their rivals. It takes longer to fault the liberal leader who teases the constituency with hand-outs. It takes longer for the Conservative leader to get the voting block through rehab.
I’m on the frence about this one...
The left seems to be winning everywhere, mostly the result of conservative incompetence.
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