VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #0550/01 0811750
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211750Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2366

UNCLAS PARIS 000550 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE; INR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN THE LYON CONSULAR DISTRICT 
- SOCIALISTS MAINTAIN CONTROL OF BIG CITIES 
 
 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
REF: Embassy Paris SIPRnet Paris Points for March 18 and previous 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) In the March 9 and 16 municipal elections (ref), the left 
maintained control of the major cities in the Lyon consular 
district: Lyon, Dijon, Grenoble, and Clermont Ferrand.  The winning 
incumbents in these cities are business-friendly moderates who 
retained public support because of their reputations as good 
municipal managers.  Lyon Socialist incumbent Mayor Gerard Collomb 
declared victory after the first round, with 53 percent of the vote. 
 No mayor in Lyon has ever won in the first round.  Dijon Socialist 
Mayor Francois Rebsamen (PS) was reelected with 56 percent of the 
votes in the first round, in a city that traditionally opted for the 
right.  In one of the most closely watched elections in the 
Rhone-Alpes Region, in the city of St. Etienne, Socialist Party 
candidate Maurice Vincent defeated UMP Mayor Michel Thiolliere, 
despite Thiolliere's having been named a finalist in the "World 
Mayor" contest of 2006.  Overall, these municipal elections have 
been a referendum on the effectiveness of incumbent mayors. 
However, disenchantment with the national government affected the 
outcome of some races, possibly boosting the margin of victory for 
the Socialists in the larger cities.  End summary. 
 
Lyon - Two business friendly moderates 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Lyon Socialist Mayor Gerard Collomb declared victory after 
the first round, with 53 percent of the vote.  Although observers 
expected a Collomb victory, the the extent of support for him 
surprised the pundits.  No mayor in Lyon has ever won in the first 
round.  Collomb's list won 7 districts out of 9, with the two more 
well-healed second and sixth districts opting for the lists from the 
right by 58 percent and 53 percent respectively.  Collomb was also 
elected to preside over the representative association of the 
greater Lyon Metropolitan area, a conglomeration 57 cities that has 
a greater budget and resources than the city of Lyon itself. 
 
¶4. (U) Lyon's shift to the left was decisive.  Support for the right 
decreased by about 20 percent since the last municipal election. 
Collomb headed the list in the ninth district, winning 63 percent of 
the vote in the first round.  Union for Popular Movement (UMP) 
candidate and former Justice Minister and Transportation Minister 
Dominique Perben, however, lost by a significant margin in the first 
round in the third district where he headed the list.  His 
competitor, Socialist District Mayor Thierry Philip, won 53 percent 
of the vote, against 30 percent for Perben.   In the fifth district, 
Rhone Department UMP Secretary General Michael Havard lost 
decisively, winning only 43 percent of the votes in the first round, 
against 53 percent for Socialist incumbent Alexandrine Pesson. 
Perben has ceded the role of head of the opposition in Lyon's 
Municipal Council to Havard. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Both Collomb and his UMP challenger Perben are business 
friendly centrists.  This similarity was Perben's main problem in 
challenging Collomb:  he failed to differentiate himself 
sufficiently.  Collomb became mayor in 2001, when Union for French 
Democracy (UDF) incumbent and former Prime Minister Raymond Barre 
decided not to run.  Collomb has been active in devising and funding 
community organizations and has implemented programs such as a 
successful scheme to rent bicycles as a way of cutting down inner 
city traffic (such bicycle rental systems have since been adopted in 
Paris and Marseille).  Perben charged that Collomb pinched most of 
these ideas from Barre and has lacked vision in several other 
projects, such as in the construction of a new downtown area where 
Lyon's two rivers merge.  Whether true or not, Collomb has 
successfully implemented his ideas, and Perben's charges did not 
resonate with voters. 
 
Cantonal Election Results in Lyon's Rhone Department 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
6 (U) The right was able to maintain its control of the Departmental 
Council of the Rhone Department, which surrounds Lyon.  Of the 54 
cantonal representatives on the council, 22 are from the Socialist 
and Green parties (up from 20), 13 are from the Union for Popular 
Movement (UMP) party (up from 11), and three remain from the 
Communist Party; 16 are from the - now dissolved -- Union for French 
Democracy (UDF) and its allied center-right Radical Party (down from 
20). 
 
Other Areas in the Lyon Consular District - Incumbents Stay Put 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶7. (U) The Socialists, however, made gains in control over the 
Departmental Councils in the other departments in the region. 
Before the election, the right held the majority in 10 of the 16 
 
Departmental Councils in the three regions of the Consular District 
(Auvergne, Rhone Alps and Burgundy).  However, two of the 
Departmental Councils shifted to the left, with the Communist Party 
gaining control of the Allier Department in Auvergne and the 
Socialists winning the Ain Department in Rhone-Alpes. 
 
¶8. In one of the most closely watched municipal elections in the 
Rhone-Alpes Region, Socialist Party candidate Maurice Vincent 
defeated St. Etienne UMP Mayor Michel Thiolliere, despite his being 
named a finalist in the "World Mayor" contest of 2006.  Most pundits 
blame competition from Tholliere's former assistant and candidate of 
the Democratic Movment (MoDem) party Gilles Artigues for 
Thiolliere's very narrow loss.  The left made inroads into some 
other smaller towns in the region.  For instance, in right-leaning 
Valence, Socialist competitor Alain Maurice defeated UMP candidate 
Patrick Labaune.  The UMP controls city hall, although Labaune was 
not the sitting Mayor.  The left, however, maintained control of the 
larger cities including Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, and 
Villeurbanne.   This trend confirmed the first round results, in 
which the Socialists maintained control of Lyon, Dijon and Chambery 
and won control of Chalon-sur-Satne.  The sole city that bucked the 
trend was Puy-en-Velay in which Government Spokesman and UMP 
candidate Laurent Wauquiez (56.5 percent of the votes) successfully 
challenged incumbent Socialist Mayor Arlette Arnaud-Landau (40.34 
percent).  Wauquiez, who was serving as government spokesperson in 
the government of Prime Minister Francois Fillon, was named to the 
post of State Secretary for Employment on March 18 immediately 
following the election. 
 
STAPLETON