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France's government resigned yesterday after crushing defeats in the second round of municipal elections on Sunday.
President François Hollande was reported to be picking a new prime minister as the Star went to press — rumoured to be Interior Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
Left-wing political leaders blamed Mr Hollande’s austerity for the devastating election losses.
The conservative UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy now controls over half of towns with a population of over 9,000, while the far-right National Front (FN) led by Marine Le Pen has about 15.
The FN won Béziers and Fréjus but missed out on expected scalps in Forbach and Avignon.
Its most significant victory was in the 7th district of Marseille.
The president’s Socialist Party (PS) lost control of countless municipalities.
But PS candidate Anne Hidalgo became the first female mayor of Paris, the party held Lyon and it took Avignon from the UMP after the FN had led the first round.
Left Party (PG) co-president Jean-Luc Mélenchon commented: “François Hollande’s politics, his turn to the right, his preferred alliance with (employers’ body) Medef, his submission to European austerity policies have produced a disaster.”
Communist Party (PCF) national secretary Pierre Laurent said that the PCF had been largely successful in defending its positions “but this is a serious warning.
“We have been saying for months that this political approach was headed for disaster.
“It’s not a question of a reshuffle but a political change of direction by the government.”
The PCF, running either with the PG as the Left Front or in wider coalitions with the PS, won in its traditional strongholds as well as taking back towns including Aubervilliers and Montreuil in the Paris region and Thiers in Puy-de-Dôme.
The PCF complained about the PS contesting the second round in some areas in a bid to supplant left alliances led by the PCF, even though these included SP members.
The Green Party, which supports the government, even aligned itself with the UMP in Villejuif, south of Paris, in opposition to the PCF-led left.
But despite a media obsession with the FN’s gains its number of councils and councillors remains a tiny proportion of the PCF share.
