PARIS — They will forever be known as the coronavirus elections.
The first round of France’s local elections took place Sunday in an eerie atmosphere of semi-lockdown and global pandemic, leading to record abstention and casting doubt over whether the second round will happen as planned in a week’s time.
The night was grim for President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party, which failed to make headway in major cities.
Here are five takeaways from the elections.
1. Coronavirus keeps voters away
Turnout was historically low at 45.5 percent, compared with 63.55 percent in the 2014 local elections, according to an estimate by pollsters Ipsos/Sopra Steria.
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Many opposition politicians called on Macron to postpone the second round, saying it could not take place next Sunday as planned, with coronavirus expected to continue spreading exponentially.
“The second round of the election will clearly not happen, given the plausible aggravation of the epidemic,” said Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally.
The government will meet Tuesday with its scientific advisory committee to determine whether it is safe, from a health perspective, to hold the second round, Health Minister Olivier Véran said.
A postponement would raise questions over the first round’s validity, and whether new elections would have to start from scratch.
2. Macron’s bad night
Macron’s La République en Marche (LREM) looks set to have the worst electoral results since it was created in 2017.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe who was running for reelection as mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre was one of the highest profile casualties.
The party, which has struggled to create a political identity based on anything more than the president’s own personality, didn’t land major wins and failed to unsettle traditional parties with deep local roots.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe who was running for reelection as mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre was one of the highest profile casualties. He came first but, unlike in 2014, did not score an outright win, so will face a tricky runoff in the second round, according to estimates.
Even in a city like Lyon, where the outgoing mayor, Gérard Collomb, ruled for decades and was one of Macron’s earliest and most high-profile supporters, the LREM candidate came in third place, well behind a Green and a conservative.
Other members of the government did fare better, though. Budget Minister Gérald Darmanin and Culture Minister Franck Riester (who has tested positive for the coronavirus), both won their cities outright, according to estimates.
3. Paris set to stay Socialist
In Paris, Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo is on track to be re-elected, should the second round go ahead next Sunday.
Paris’ incumbent mayor and candidate for her own succession Anne Hidalgo | Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images
She won 29.1 percent of the vote, much more than polls had predicted and well ahead of conservative former MEP Rachida Dati who only obtained 22.8 percent, according to an Ipsos/Sopra Steria estimate. Macron’s candidate, former Health Minister Agnès Buzyn, trailed in third place on 18.3 percent.
Hidalgo, a divisive figure in the French capital, called on “ecologists, progressives and humanists” to rally behind her ahead of the second round.
“On Sunday, you chose in those exceptional circumstances to trust me. This choice shows that voters want Paris to remain a city where everyone is included,” she said in a short address.
In her speech, Hidalgo did not mention the elephant in the room — the potential postponement of the second round.
4. Green waves
The Greens gave LREM a thrashing in major cities, including Grenoble, where they maintained their leading position with the incumbent mayor Eric Piolle, who came well ahead of his LREM rival, according to first estimates.
Macron’s party was also eclipsed in Bordeaux by a duel between outgoing mayor Nicolas Florian of Les Républicains and his Green opponent Pierre Hurmic.
There was no far-right wave this time, but the National Rally is set to hold on to the cities it won in 2014.
In Strasbourg, Green Jeanne Barseghian also came first, with the LREM candidate a distant second in a city that was widely seen as winnable for Macron’s party.
Despite good scores, Greens called for the second round to be postponed because of the coronavirus.
“I solemnly call on the president of the republic to prioritize the health of the French people,” said Yannick Jadot, Green MEP and party heavyweight who ran for the presidency in 2017.
5. Far right holds steady
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally failed to repeat their 2014 exploits, when the movement made a breakthrough in several small and midsize cities in the north and the south of the country.
A voter leaves after voting in a polling station set in the town hall of Reigneville-Bocage | Sameer al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images
There was no far-right wave this time, but the National Rally is set to hold on to the cities it won in 2014.
Their highest profile win of the night was in Perpignan, where Le Pen’s former partner Louis Aliot topped polls, although he did only marginally better than six years ago. All eyes will be on the second round of the elections, whenever that may be, to see whether other parties band together, as they did in 2014, to block him from claiming the mayor’s office.