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Turnout up in second round of French regional election
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 21 - 03 - 2010


Voter turnout was slightly up in Sunday's second
round regional elections in France, according to the country's
interior ministry, after calls by both major parties for people to go
to the polls following last week's low turnout, according to dpa.
As of 1600 GMT, nine hours after polls opened across the
country, turnout stood at 43.47 per cent, up from 39.29 per cent in
the first round at the same time.
But the figure was significantly lower than turnout in the second
round of the 2004 regional elections, in which some 60 per cent of
register voters eventually cast their ballots.
It was believed that President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative
ruling UMP party suffered the most from last Sunday's record low
turnout of 46.5 per cent of France's 44 million registered voters.
But turnout was also very low in the country's poor suburban
ghettos whose residents usually vote for left-wing parties.
Latest polls indicated that Sarkozy and his ruling UMP party could
lose all 22 metropolitan regions in the country, a humiliating
setback that would put pressure on the president to shuffle his
government and reconsider some of his policies.
Observers will be taking a close look at the results from Alsace,
where polls showed the UMP candidate and his Socialist rival running
neck and neck. Currently, the Socialists govern 20 of the 22
metropolitan regions.
These do not include France's four overseas regions, in three of
which elections are also being held Sunday. In Guadeloupe, the
Socialist list of candidates garnered the necessary majority in the
first round to be elected.


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