A rejuvenated French left and the ruling center-right government began jockeying for position on Monday after voters delivered a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s reform plans in the first round of regional elections.
No clear victor emerged from Sunday’s vote in France’s 26 regions ahead of next week’s decisive second round, but political observers said the 40-percent showing for the mainstream left was a sign of broad voter discontent.
A rejuvenated French left and the ruling center-right government began jockeying for position on Monday after voters delivered a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s reform plans in the first round of regional elections.
No clear victor emerged from Sunday’s vote in France’s 26 regions ahead of next week’s decisive second round, but political observers said the 40-percent showing for the mainstream left was a sign of broad voter discontent.
“The slap,” wrote daily France-Soir in a front-page headline over a picture of Raffarin, while Le Figaro called the result “the shock of the first round.”
Conservatives tallied 34 percent, the Interior Ministry said. The extreme-right National Front, which won 15 percent, was thrust into the role of kingmaker before Sunday’s final round.
“The French are not happy with their government: they’ve expressed their suffering,” said Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande on French TV. “They used this vote for the left to express their dissatisfaction and discontent.”
Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie acknowledged that voters had delivered a “warning” to the government as it carries out reform in areas such as health care and education.
“This is the demonstration of impatience – even exasperation – of a certain number of French who are facing life-changing reforms they deem to be moving too slowly,” she said on RTL radio.
The increasingly unpopular Raffarin, speaking after the vote on Sunday, said he has heard the messages of voters “and I am attentive to them.”