If we are to believe the latest polls, it is the UMP candidate who should emerge victorious from the polls with a fairly comfortable lead, but there remain many undecided voters who could still reverse this trend. François Bayrou has clearly stated that he will not vote for candidate Sarkozy, and Jean-Marie Le Pen has not issued any voting instructions and has urged his followers to abstain en masse, which further complicates the cards in this second round that has not yet spoken its final word.
This presidential election, unlike any other, has undoubtedly set the tone for a new way of doing politics, and it is certain that the future legislative and municipal elections will be marked by this renewal. The UDF will become the Democratic Party, the National Front will seek its new breath, and the anti-liberal parties will try once again for the union that they lacked in the first round.
The outlook for the legislative and municipal elections
From Monday, the various candidates for the legislative and municipal elections will implement their plan of attack depending on the choice of the polls. It is known that many UDF Deputies have opted for the UMP card, and a difficult choice will present itself to them with the arrival of their leader François Bayrou’s new party. June is likely to be very hot in French constituencies where voters will barely have recovered from the presidential election.
There is no doubt that the panel of current candidates will likely be somewhat reshuffled based on Sunday night’s result, and other surprise candidacies might well emerge, particularly in large urban areas.
As for the municipal elections, which should logically take place in March 2008, even if the new French head of state might decide otherwise and schedule the vote in the last months of 2007. Here too, the confirmed candidacies could well undergo some changes although for this election, the heavyweights of the various parties have not ventured to declare their intentions. Thus, in Nice, for example, it is still not known whether Jacques Peyrat or Christian Estrosi will run for the mayorship of the fifth-largest city in France.
We can therefore see that the result of Sunday will have significant repercussions on the French political landscape, and although the game is not yet over, one thing is certain, it will be a battle that will be lost, but the war will continue more fiercely in all corners of the hexagon.
