Paris (AFP)

At the polls anyway? The French must vote on Sunday to elect their 35,000 mayors, following a campaign overshadowed by the ever more dramatic coronavirus crisis.

Until late Sunday evening, calls multiplied for a postponement of the 1st round, which however had just confirmed Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

No less than six regional presidents - Valérie Pécresse (Ile de France), Xavier Bertrand (Hauts de France), Gilles Simeoni (Corsica), Carole Delga (Occitanie), Renaud Muselier (PACA), and Hervé Morin (Normandy) -, among other elected officials, demanded the postponement of the poll, attracting an annoyed response from the executive.

"These are the same people who asked for the maintenance at all costs on Thursday, in a sometimes threatening tone, who now ask for cancellation the day before ... You have to be serious, if not to be consistent", replied to AFP close to President Emmanuel Macron.

A few hours earlier, the head of government announced the closure at midnight and "until further notice" of all "places receiving public not essential to the life of the country".

Edouard Philippe confirmed that, on the other hand, the first round of the municipal elections, which Emmanuel Macron had seriously considered canceling on Thursday, would take place on Sunday "as planned", at the cost of scrupulous compliance with the "instructions for distancing and prioritization elderly and frail people. "

- Record of abstention? -

The Prime Minister asked for "calm" and "civility" from the French, even though many mayors announced on Saturday evening mass resignations of the assessors scheduled for the poll, raising fears of a multiplication of confusion at the polling stations - even if , in theory, the city councilors have the power to requisition municipal councilors to ensure the regularity of electoral operations.

Beyond that, some observers fear that the ballot suffers from record abstention. The Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, admitted publicly on Saturday to fear a decrease in participation.

However, in the polling stations, we are preparing to welcome voters in the best possible conditions: door handles, tables, voting booths ... everything must be cleaned before the vote and measures are taken to avoid queues and enforce safety distances.

For its part, the government is broadcasting messages recommending to vote preferably with a ballot received by mail, to sign up with your own pen - blue or black -, and to favor the busiest hours, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. 4 p.m.

Will this be enough to encourage the nearly 47.7 million voters - including 330,000 nationals of other EU countries - to vote? Especially the older ones that the head of state rightly encouraged to stay at home on Thursday?

While the balance sheet of the epidemic worsens - 91 dead Saturday -, many experts also question the ability to hold the second round Sunday, March 22.

"My analysis", tweeted the constitutional lawyer Jean-Philippe Derosier on Saturday, "is that such a postponement would cancel the 1st round. It is not possible to disconnect the 2 rounds from the same ballot without altering its sincerity".

- Campaign ended in indifference -

This unprecedented context, after an election campaign ended in indifference, obscures the political stakes of this election: Will the Republicans and the PS manage to rebuild themselves on the municipal level, after having seen their national positions collapse since 2017? Will the RN confirm its breakthrough by winning new town halls in the South and Hauts de France? Can EELV environmentalists maintain their momentum for European women? Will LREM, in a difficult position, succeed in starting local implantation?

In Paris, the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn (LREM) seems to be lagging behind the outgoing Anne Hidalgo (PS) and her rival LR Rachida Dati, who are leading the race. In Marseille, the macronist Yvon Berland stagnates at less than 10%. A highly anticipated result also at Le Havre, where Edouard Philippe plays his future at Matignon.

According to the latest projections, the Republicans could keep many of their cities taken to the left in 2014. LR, however, divided share in Marseille, where the National Rally hopes to come out on top in the first round.

On the left, the Greens hope to take advantage of the awareness of the ecological emergency and aim to impose themselves in Besançon, Tours, Rouen or Grenoble. The PS will especially try to keep its bastions of Paris, Lille, Rennes and Nantes.

The RN seems to be on the way to keeping its town halls won in 2014 and will try to strengthen its presence before the regional meetings in 2021.

The relatively low bar (10% of the votes cast in the first round) above which a list can be maintained should result in a multiplication of triangular, even quadrangular, in the second round.

With the erasure of the right / left divide and the proliferation of "unlabeled" lists, the results of the ballot are expected to be particularly difficult to decipher, and the discussions between the two rounds crucial.

After the vote on Sunday, the candidates authorized to maintain themselves will have until 6:00 p.m. Tuesday to find allies or merge their lists for the second round.

© 2020 AFP