Education World

France’s regional election ended Sunday night, with initial results showing the ruling UMP party has lost all but one of 22 regions to the left wing in metropolitan France.

The result was widely considered a loud alarm of public rejection of the current central administration.

The Socialist-led left-wing hailed the victory “unprecedented,” but it is still hard to tell to what extent the left unity can use the strong local base to bring out a credible candidate to challenge the ruling right in the 2012 presidential vote.

DEFEAT — REFLECTION OF PUBLIC DISAPPOINTMENT

During the last poll before the presidential election, left-wing parties have won 54.3 percent of the vote, against 36.1 percent for the ruling UMP party and 8.7 percent for the far-right National Front, according to OpinionWay polling institute.

The Greens party, known as Europe Ecologie, garnered 12.18 percent of votes in the first round, taking a third place only after the leading Socialist and ruling UMP.

As the emerging political power promoted by last year’s European election, the Greens has agreed to ally with the Socialist in the second round.

Public disappointment with the ruling party was understandable as the country’s unemployment rate hit 10 percent, the highest in a decade, and the public deficit was expected to reach 8.2 percent of GDP in 2010.

As Stephane Rozes, a political analyst, told France 24 TV Station in a recent interview that the current economic difficulties challenging the ruling party played into the hands of the left wing, which was considered better at addressing local needs.

REFORM OR NO REFORM, QUESTIONS FOR SARKOZY

Ambitious on pushing forward national reforms on retirement, education and carbon tax, President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing increasing obstacles and declining approval rate.

Weeks before the election, he announced a pause in his reform plan in 2011. Days before the election, he ruled out a large-scale cabinet reshuffle.

However, as the runoff went on, it is hard for the ruling party to ignore the historical low turnout rate and great power of the opposition.

As French powerful labor union CGT called for a day of protest over wages and pensions on Tuesday and the Socialist-led left was determined to defeat the UMP, Sarkozy has to win back some public trust as soon as possible.

President’s General Secretary Claude Gueant said that Sarkozy would make some “minor technical readjustment” to the cabinet, and the Elysee Palace said that Prime Minister Fracois Fillon was summoned by the president to assess the election results on Monday morning.

If the Elysee really lives up to its promise of “listening to the voice of the French public,” a major cabinet reshuffle would be inevitable, as a recent survey showed that 57 percent of French people demanded cabinet reshuffle and 37 percent even asked for a new prime minister.

STILL LONG WAY TO GO FOR THE LEFT WING

In terms of party alliance, the left wing has gained enormous strength, but it still needs time to come up with a prominent candidate to challenge Sarkozy.

The Socialist, the leading force of left wing, is regarded as a chronically divided party. The emerging Greens has showed ambition to play a greater role in regional affairs though it has joined forces with the Socialist.

During Sarkozy’s remaining term of office, the left unity is facing a test of how to coordinate with each other to speak in one voice.

As Stephane Rozes said, France has been governed by right-wing presidents ever since 1995. French people have somehow got used to the division of power — right-wing ruling the central government and left-wing controlling the regional authorities.

Observers say that the regional election is not the end, but more like a beginning of the competition between the ruling right and opposition left for the 2012 presidential election.