Presidential elections: UMP bosses in danger of losing safe seats

• Slap in the face for Alain Juppé in his home town of Bordeaux.

Here, François Hollande received 57.18% of the vote against 42.82% for Sarkozy – a much higher figure than Ségolène Royal’s score in 2007, when she received 33.05% in the first round against Sarkozy’s 28.68%.

Reacting to this rise of the left in Aquitaine, Gironde and Bordeaux – the city where François Hollande got 57.18% of the vote - Alain Juppé stated he was planning to devote himself to winning the seat back “with all those who are willing to help”. The current Foreign Secretary was previously beaten in 2007 by the socialist Michèle Delaunay in the second constituency.

• Lonjumeau (Essonne) sends a clear message to its mayor Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet

The ex-Minister for the Environment, and Sarkozy’s campaign spokesperson, got a dressing-down with 55.49% of the vote going to Hollande, 4 points more than the socialist vote in 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy received 44.51%.

• Marseille turns red, and Gaudin goes pale

In the traditionally right-wing city of Marseille, the socialist candidate won the Sarkozy-Hollande arm-wrestle. France’s second-largest city, represented by the controversial figure of Jean-Claude Gaudin (UMP), saw François Hollande come home ahead of Sarkozy with 50.87% to 49.13%. The socialist candidate was even ahead in the first round with 28.05% against 26.93%. The legal proceedings involving socialist Jean-Noël Guérini seem to have had no effect on the socialist breakthrough.

• Copé gets a shock in Meaux

Despite being painted as a model town throughout Sarkozy’s presidency, Meaux (Seine-et-Marne) – whose mayor Jean-François Copé is also the secretary general of the UMP – delivered a stinging rebuke to Nicolas Sarkozy. Hollande won the ballot with 54% to Sarkozy’s 46%, an almost total reversal of 2007’s result (Sarkozy got 52.43% to Ségolène Royal’s 47.57%).

• Centrists worried

At Montereau-Fault-Yonne, Yves Jégo’s town (ex-Secretary of State for Overseas Départements), a red tidal wave swept the right-wing away with 63.14% for Hollande and 36.86% for Sarkozy.

• They’re holding on, but for how long?

Nicolas Sarkozy just managed to hang on to Coulommiers, the town of UMP national communications secretary Franck Riester, and Provins – home of the UMP group’s leader in the National Assembly, Christian Jacob. Naturally, he held on to his heartland in the Hauts-de-Seine département.

But even here, the vote was whittled away. Even though Levallois, Boulogne-Billancourt, Rueil-Malmaison and Neuilly-sur-Seine (84.20% for Sarkozy) stayed faithful, François Hollande made a breakthrough in some towns in the department such as Issy-les-Moulineaux, where André Santini (NC) is both deputy and mayor, and Antony, where former minister Patrick Devedjian (UMP) was mayor up until 2002.

• See also:

Our interactive map with all the national results, by region, department and town

• Read:

Election day – blow-by-blow account of the second round.

“Let’s make a success of change” by Patrick Le Hyaric