2001 French cantonal elections explained

Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 11 and 18 March 2001. While the left did poorly in the municipal elections held on the same dates, it emerged as the overall winner in the cantonal elections, gaining control of six departments and losing that of just one.

Electoral system

The cantonal elections use a two-round system similar to that employed in the country's legislative elections.

• Councillors are elected from single-member constituencies (the cantons).
• A candidate securing the votes of at least 25% of the canton's registered voters and more than 50% of the total number of votes actually cast in the first round of voting is thereby elected. If no candidate satisfies these conditions, then a second round of voting is held one week later.
• Entitled to present themselves in the second round are the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round, plus any other candidate or candidates who received the votes of at least 10% of those registered to vote in the canton.
• In the second round, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes is elected.

Change in control

From right to left

• Corse-du-Sud (DVG)
• Creuse (PS)
• Eure (PS)
• Isère (PS)
• Haute-Saône(PS)
• Vaucluse (PS)

From left to right

• Allier (DVD)

Results

National results

Party/Alliance		Votes	% (first round)	Seats (first round)	Votes	% (second round)	Total Seats
	PS	2,706,319	22.16%	164	2,306,925	30.60%	494
	Miscellaneous Right	1,953,003	15.99%	163	1,328,604	17.62%	455
	RPR	1,520,072	12.45%	135	1,254,619	16.64%	338
	PCF	1,196,341	9.80%	28	536,901	7.12%	126
	UDF	1,122,055	9.19%	96	850,821	11.28%	231
	FN	847,383	6.94%	0	46,149	0.61%	0
	Miscellaneous Left	823,548	6.74%	61	525,089	6.96%	176
	Les Verts	723,310	5.92%	0	146,057	1.94%	12
	DL	363,922	2.98%	40	275,537	3.65%	90
	MNR	361,565	2.96%	0	10,163	0.13%	0
	RPF	151,489	1.24%	4	93,798	1.24%	18
	PRG	150,695	1.23%	14	100,143	1.33%	40
	Far-Left	76,605	0.65%	1	5,302	0.07%	2
	Ecologists	66,346	0.54%	2	5,713	0.08%	3
	Regionalists	54,321	0.44%	0	8,688	0.12%	3
	Miscellaneous	46,377	0.38%	0	19,655	0.26%	4
	CPNT	44,680	0.37%	1	25,608	0.34%	5

General council presidents elected

By department

Department!President! colspan="2"

Party
01	Ain	Jean Pépin		DL
02	Aisne	Yves Daudigny*		PS
03	Allier	Gérard Dériot*		DVD
04	Alpes-de-Haute-Provence	Jean-Louis Bianco		PS
05	Hautes-Alpes	Alain Bayrou		DL
06	Alpes-Maritimes	Charles Ginésy		RPR
07	Ardèche	Michel Teston		PS
08	Ardennes	Roger Aubry		DVD
09	Ariège	Augustin Bonrepaux*		PS
10	Aube	Philippe Adnot		DVD
11	Aude	Marcel Rainaud		PS
12	Aveyron	Jean Puech		DL
13	Bouches-du-Rhône	Jean-Noël Guérini		PS
14	Calvados	Anne d'Ornano		DVD
15	Cantal	Vincent Descoeur*		RPR
16	Charente	Jacques Bobe		UDF
17	Charente-Maritime	Claude Belot		UDF
18	Cher	Rémy Pointereau*		RPR
19	Corrèze	Jean-Pierre Dupont		RPR
2A	Corse-du-Sud	Noël Sarrola*		DVG
2B	Haute-Corse	Paul Giacobbi		PRG
21	Côte-d'Or	Louis de Broissia		RPR
22	Côtes-d'Armor	Claudy Lebreton		PS
23	Creuse	Jean-Jacques Lozach*		PS
24	Dordogne	Bernard Cazeau		PS
25	Doubs	Claude Girard		RPR
26	Drôme	Charles Monge*		DVD
27	Eure	Jean-Louis Destans*		PS
28	Eure-et-Loir	Martial Taugourdeau		RPR
29	Finistère	Pierre Maille		PS
30	Gard	Damien Alary*		PS
31	Haute-Garonne	Pierre Izard		PS
32	Gers	Philippe Martin		PS
33	Gironde	Philippe Madrelle		PS
34	Hérault	André Vezinhet		PS
35	Ille-et-Vilaine	Marie-Joseph Bissonnier*		DVD
36	Indre	Louis Pinton		UDF
37	Indre-et-Loire	Marc Pommereau*		DVD
38	Isère	André Vallini*		PS
39	Jura	Gérard Bailly		RPR
40	Landes	Henri Emmanuelli		PS
41	Loir-et-Cher	Michel Dupiot		DVD
42	Loire	Pascal Clément		DL
43	Haute-Loire	Jacques Barrot		UDF
44	Loire-Atlantique	André Trillard*		RPR
45	Loiret	Éric Doligé		RPR
46	Lot	Jean Milhau		PRG
47	Lot-et-Garonne	Jean François-Poncet		UDF-Rad.
48	Lozère	Jean-Paul Pottier		DL
49	Maine-et-Loire	André Lardeux		RPR
50	Manche	Jean-François Le Grand		RPR
51	Marne	Albert Vecten		UDF
52	Haute-Marne	Bruno Sido		RPR
53	Mayenne	Jean Arthuis		UDF
54	Meurthe-et-Moselle	Michel Dinet		PS
55	Meuse	Bertrand Pancher*		UDF
56	Morbihan	Jean-Charles Cavaillé		RPR
57	Moselle	Philippe Leroy		RPR
58	Nièvre	Marcel Charmant*		PS
59	Nord	Bernard Derosier		PS
60	Oise	Jean-François Mancel		DVD
61	Orne	Gérard Burel		RPR
62	Pas-de-Calais	Roland Huguet		PS
63	Puy-de-Dôme	Pierre-Joël Bonte		PS
64	Pyrénées-Atlantiques	Jean-Jacques Lasserre*		UDF
65	Hautes-Pyrénées	François Fortassin		PRG
66	Pyrénées-Orientales	Christian Bourquin		PS
67	Bas-Rhin	Philippe Richert		UDF
68	Haut-Rhin	Constant Georg		DVD
69	Rhône	Michel Mercier		UDF
70	Haute-Saône	Yves Krattinger*		PS
71	Saône-et-Loire	René Beaumont		DL
72	Sarthe	Roland du Luart		UDF
73	Savoie	Hervé Gaymard		RPR
74	Haute-Savoie	Ernest Nycollin		UDF
75	Paris	Bertrand Delanoë*		PS
76	Seine-Maritime	Charles Revet		DL
77	Seine-et-Marne	Jacques Larché		DL
78	Yvelines	Franck Borotra		RPR
79	Deux-Sèvres	Jean-Marie Morisset		UDF
80	Somme	Alain Gest		UDF
81	Tarn	Thierry Carcenac		PS
82	Tarn-et-Garonne	Jean-Michel Baylet		PRG
83	Var	Hubert Falco		DL
84	Vaucluse	Claude Haut*		PS
85	Vendée	Philippe de Villiers		MPF
86	Vienne	René Monory		UDF
87	Haute-Vienne	Jean-Claude Peyronnet		PS
88	Vosges	Christian Poncelet		RPR
89	Yonne	Henri de Raincourt		DL
90	Territoire de Belfort	Christian Proust		MDC
91	Essonne	Michel Berson		PS
92	Hauts-de-Seine	Charles Pasqua		RPF
93	Seine-Saint-Denis	Robert Clément		PCF
94	Val-de-Marne	Christian Favier*		PCF
95	Val-d'Oise	François Scellier		UDF-Rad.
Overseas France
971	Guadeloupe	Jacques Gillot*		GUSR
972	Martinique	Claude Lise		PPM
973	Guyane	Joseph Ho-Ten-You		PSG
974	Réunion	Jean-Luc Poudroux		UDF
975	Saint Pierre et Miquelon	Marc Plantegenest		AD (DVD)
976	Mayotte	Younoussa Bamana		MPM (UDF)

Sources

E-P

Ministry of the Interior results