Finistere, the département at the far west end of Brittany, where land ends.

Here’s a map of the départements of France with an enlargement of Finistere on the left. Its outline resembles the profile of a dragon’s head facing west with its mouth open and forked tongue visible, a reminder of Brittany's ancient Celtic heritage. As the map shows, the départements are divided into smaller units known as cantons, or counties. In Finistere, the election is really 27 separate county elections, and, in all of France, 2,054 separate county elections.

Each party on the ballot presented a pair of candidates, or binôme, one male, one female, to guarantee gender parity in the result. The pair of winners will hold office as County General Councilors, so that Finistere, with its 27 counties, will have 54 General Councilors. It will be their responsibility to govern, as a group, at the département level.

In the first round of voting last Sunday, any binôme with more than 50% of the votes, and more than 25% of all registered voters, won the election. Since there were many political parties with binômes on the ballot, few candidates reached the required threshold in the first round. In Finistere, only one county managed to elect its General Councilors last Sunday. In all of France, 149 counties did so, too.

The second round of voting will be on Sunday March 29. Any binôme that exceeded 12.5% of registered voters in the first round is eligible for the second round. If there aren’t at least two qualified binômes that meet the standard to compete in the second round, the top two binômes will compete, instead.

Note: The map of Finistere is color-keyed to reflect the political ideology of the party with the highest vote total in the first round.

Red = Left

Blue = Right

Orange = Miscellaneous others. (Candidates who represent the Breton Movement, including preservation of the local Celtic language, had the highest vote total in the county shaded orange on the map.)





The Major Political Parties' Nationwide Vote Totals

Dark Red = The Party of the Left

Red = Socialists

Blue = UMP

Gray = Front National

Some candidates were listed on the ballot under miscellaneous designations instead of their political party. Consequently, the election returns that were originally reported were revised to reflect each party’s correct nationwide total.

After a three-year absence, Nicolas Sarkozy returned to lead the center-right UMP, to a strong first-round finish. He made the election a referendum on the far right Front National, vowing to block its candidates everywhere. The UMP had the highest vote totals in 75 départements which explains the abundance of blue on the national map. Of the 149 binômes that broke through the 50% minimum requirement for a first-round win, 105 were UMP candidates.

The FN maintained support at around 25%, its previous high water mark level, but its candidates met the 50% minimum in only 4 counties. The ruling Socialists succeeded in 13 counties and the Leftists succeeded in 9, with lower vote totals than the FN.



Political Party Vote Total Counties Won Has Lead in Départements UMP 34.6% 105 75 Front National 25.2% 4 10 Socialists 21.5% 19 9 Leftist Front 13.3% 13 4 Greens 2.0% 0 0 UDI & Modem 2.0% 5 0 Other 1.4% 3 0



The Three Political Blocs The Left Bloc and the Right Bloc are evenly matched in vote totals. The FN is a third smaller Bloc with little chance of improving its standing.

Coalitions are the rule for the 2nd round of voting. Historically, the competition was a push and pull between the Left and the Right.

The Front National now stands on its own as a bloc that rejects coalition with others.

In the second round of voting, the UMP can win easily in counties where it competes against the FN.

The Socialists already demonstrated that they can compete successfully against the FN, too, in a special election last month to fill a vacated National Assembly seat. Since the FN refuses coalition, the UMP returns the favor by refusing support wherever the FN competes against the Socialists. With support from allies in the Greens party, and from the Left, the Socialists get ahead of the FN.



Political Bloc Vote Total Counties Won Has Lead in Départements Left 36.9% 32 47 Right 36.6% 110 47 Front National 25.2% 4 4

Competition between the UMP and the Socialists is tight. The Left Bloc and the Right Bloc are matched as closely as they’ve ever been.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.