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Sarkozy faces test in local polls

Paris: The French Socialist Party is hoping to win several major towns in municipal elections and thus salvage its image tarnished during its electoral rout in May 2007 when President Nicolas Sarkozy came to power defeating Socialist candidate Segolene Royal.

Major cities such as Marseille and Toulouse are expected to fall into the party’s hands while the Socialist Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, is expected to win a second term.

In the presidential elections last May, Mr Sarkozy won by over six percentage points, scoring a decisive victory over the Socialist candidate and his election put paid, for the third successive time, to the Left’s hopes of clinching the presidency. Since those heady days when Mr Sarkozy’s popularity ratings touched over 70 per cent, he has seen a steady decline in approval by his compatriots. His popularity has tumbled to around 36 per cent — a fall of 35 per cent in three months — and the Left hopes to cash in on the electorate’s discontent to grab several large towns.

These municipal elections are the first major test of Mr. Sarkozy’s popularity since he took office 10 months ago on a platform that called for sweeping economic and social reforms. The turnout at midday was slightly higher than in the first round of voting, with some 23.68 per cent of voters casting ballots compared to 20.21 per cent last Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. In round one, the Socialists were re-elected in France’s third largest city of Lyon and were on course for a decisive victory in Paris, consolidating their hold on two cities taken from the Right in 2001.

But the second largest city, Marseille, was shaping up as the big prize, with the incumbent Right-wing Mayor locked in a tight race against a Socialist who has allied with a Centrist candidate. Another citadel of the Right, Toulouse in the southwest, could fall to the Left after 37 years of Right-wing administration in France’s fourth largest city and home to the aeronautics giant Airbus.

Strasbourg in the east is also set to swing Left after Socialists called on voters to “punish” Mr. Sarkozy and his government at the ballots on Sunday.

Tumbling in the opinion polls, Mr. Sarkozy has signalled that the election results will lead to some changes and aides have said a makeover in style was in store for the President.

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