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The Romance Is Over

France Punishes Sarkozy's Party in Local Elections

French voters have expressed their dissatisfaction with President Nicolas Sarkozy in local elections. Sarkozy's UMP party has lost control of more than 20 towns and cities, an indication of just how unhappy the French people are with his presidency so far.

French voters have given President Nicolas Sarkozy a clear message: the romance is over. In the final round of local elections on Sunday, Sarkozy's conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) was thrown out of office in towns and cities across France -- an indication of just how far the new president has fallen out of favor since his election just 10 months ago.

The opposition Socialists wrested control of over 20 cities and towns from the right, including Strasbourg, Toulouse and the UMP strongholds of Amiens, Caen and Reims. They had already secured Paris and Lyon in last week's first round. The right were relieved to hold on to Marseille but were still left with just three of France's 10 biggest cities.

The local elections were the first major electoral test of Sarkozy's presidency since coming to office in May 2007 and showed just how much the president has dropped in popularity. While he has fulfilled some of his pledges to bring in reforms in the public sector and labor market, the promised shake-up of the economy has not happened and he has backed off from or toned down the sweeping reforms he had promised. Meanwhile ordinary French people are increasingly concerned about their dwindling purchasing power and annoyed by the president's flamboyant lifestyle and whirlwind romance with his new wife, the former model Carla Bruni.

On Sunday night, as the bad results came in, Sarkozy was conspicuous by his absence. It was left to his Prime Minister Francois Fillon to promise to step up efforts to create jobs and increase wages. "You can't change a great country like ours in a few months," he said in a televised address. "Tenacity is needed to reform."

The good showing has given a fresh boost to the Socialists, who had been reeling since the defeat of their candidate, Segolene Royal, in last May's presidential election.

The opposition took the opportunity to demand that the president change his policies. "The French are telling him that his promises about spending power have not been met," Socialist leader Francois Hollande said on Sunday.

However, Sarkozy's chief of staff, Claude Gueant, told the La Croix daily that there was "no question of touching the general architecture of the government or the main positions before the beginning of next year."

Nevertheless, the president is expected to change his style of leadership, shedding the celebrity trappings that have earned him the nickname of the "bling-bling president." In the coming days, he intends to make efforts to improve his image as head of state, commemorating both the World War II resistance and the death of France's last World War I soldier.

smd/ap/reuters/afp