Hollande braces for loss in mayoral polls across France
1 April 2014 4:52 AM IST
The runoff round of voting comes at the end of a week that saw French unemployment surge to a new record, making a reverse of first round losses unlikely and a cabinet reshuffle by Hollande possible as soon as Monday.
Some 80 per cent of the French want him to dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to a Harris Interactive poll last week, and ambitious and tough-talking Interior Minister Manuel Valls comes top of their favourites for the job. ‘I can’t see how (Ayrault) could stay, unless we save about 30 towns, something nobody really believes,’ a Socialist Party source said.
Dissatisfaction with Hollande’s rule and a string of legal intrigues involving opposition conservatives are seen hitting turnout. The streets of Paris were quiet on Sunday morning near the old stock exchange building in central Paris, without the queues at polling stations typically seen on an election day.
‘I’m scandalised by these imbeciles who don’t vote,’ said Yann Dedet, a 67-year-old cinema producer, said after casting his ballot ‘for the Left, of course’.
Some 80 per cent of the French want him to dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to a Harris Interactive poll last week, and ambitious and tough-talking Interior Minister Manuel Valls comes top of their favourites for the job. ‘I can’t see how (Ayrault) could stay, unless we save about 30 towns, something nobody really believes,’ a Socialist Party source said.
Dissatisfaction with Hollande’s rule and a string of legal intrigues involving opposition conservatives are seen hitting turnout. The streets of Paris were quiet on Sunday morning near the old stock exchange building in central Paris, without the queues at polling stations typically seen on an election day.
‘I’m scandalised by these imbeciles who don’t vote,’ said Yann Dedet, a 67-year-old cinema producer, said after casting his ballot ‘for the Left, of course’.
Next Story
