Municipal elections in France: left trials of 2014 and 2020

• Published in: French politics Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 444 - 449
• Main Authors: Nadeau, Richard, Jérôme, Bruno, Jérôme-Speziari, Véronique, Lewis-Beck, Michael S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.12.2023; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Case studies; Centrism; Commentary; Comparative Politics; European Politics; Local elections; Macron, Emmanuel; Pandemics; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Presidential elections; Voter turnout; France; Voting behavior; Municipal elections; Left-right
• ISSN: 1476-3419; 1476-3427
• DOI: 10.1057/s41253-023-00229-w

The 2020 municipal elections in France were held under special conditions. They took place in the midst of a pandemic, which contributed to a considerable reduction in voter turnout. They also followed the 2017 presidential election marked by the victory of the centrist Emmanuel Macron and the exclusion from the second round of the left-wing and moderate right-wing parties that had succeeded each other in power since the start of the French Fifth Republic in 1958. It is therefore appropriate to examine these elections by asking whether this particular context might have contributed to the local establishment of Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République en Marche (LREM), and to see in particular whether this change could have been to the detriment of the Left, whose support had declined signifcantly in the 2017 presidential elections. To this end, we take a quick look at municipal electoral dynamics in France between 2014 and 2020 before examining the three case studies included in this Special Issue, covering the 18th arrondissement of Paris and the cities of Nevers and Montpellier.