Paris (AFP)

Eclipsed by media coverage focused on the regions, the departmental elections were also marked on Sunday by a relative status quo, the right consolidating its domination and dispossessing the PCF of its last stronghold in Val-de-Marne.

"These elections were marked by a bonus for graduates due to the health crisis (Covid-19) and a low turnout which favored the return of a classic left-right match," Pierre Monzani told AFP. Director General of the Assembly of French Departments (AdF).

The right and the center, which had a very large majority of 70 departments against 33 for the left (with the overseas territories) since the 2015 elections, could hold 73 after Sunday's poll.

It created a surprise by winning a historic victory in Puy-de-Dôme, a bastion of the left which has only known two alternations on the right since 1945: between 1973 and 1976 then between 1992 and 1998.

It also delighted the departments of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Finistère, both on the left for 23 years and conquered Val-de-Marne, the last stronghold of the Communist Party, which he had led since 1976, after the surprise loss of the Allier in 2015.

The left, however, recovered the Charente and Côtes-d'Armor which had passed to the right in 2015.

Still uncertainties

However, there are still uncertainties around three departments which will be lifted no later than Thursday during the election of the presidents of the departmental councils.

The Ardèche, a bastion of the left for 23 years, could switch, the right having won 16 of the 34 seats like the outgoing Socialist majority.

The fate of the department depends on an independent pair which will not announce its support until Monday.

Seine-Maritime, for its part, could switch to the left: everything will depend on the choice of a centrist elected representative who wants to be independent.

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In Vaucluse, left and right are tied.

The mayor of Bollène, Anthony Zilio, who freed himself from the PS, will be the arbiter and can switch the department to one camp or the other.

Claude Chirac elected

Among the personalities who presented themselves to the departmental, Claude Chirac, 58, daughter of the former head of state, was elected in the canton where her mother Bernadette, who had sat 36 years continuously in the department, had been elected substitute in 2015.

If the presidential majority, penalized by its lack of territorial anchoring, suffered a failure comparable to that of the regional ones, some members of the government achieved good individual performances.

This is the case of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin who won a large victory in his canton of Tourcoing with 65% of the votes.

But also Brigitte Bourguignon (66.37% in Desvres in the Pas-de-Calais) or Sébastien Lecornu (81% in Vernon in the Eure).

But in the Pyrénées-Orientales, in the canton where Prime Minister Jean Castex was elected in 2015 on an LR list, a pair of union from the left won with 55% of the vote.

As for the National Rally, which did not win Sunday any department and any region, Marine le Pen obtained little consolation in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais) where she won the ballot with 59.72% of the vote.

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After their elections Thursday by the departmental councils, the new presidents must meet no later than July 27 to designate the new president of the AdF who will succeed the centrist Dominique Bussereau who was not represented in his department of Charente-Maritime.

Three candidates from the UDI have already announced their intention to run for this post which should again fall to a centrist of the right-wing majority.

They are Alain Sauvadet (Côte d'Or), Jean-Léonce Dupont (Calvados) and Olivier Richefou (Mayenne).

© 2021 AFP