France mulls holding final round of local elections in June
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The French government is considering holding the final round of mayoral elections at the end of June or redoing the elections completely in January 2021, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe told all party leaders on Wednesday.
Out of the 35,000 cities, towns and villages that France counts, about 30,000 have already elected their mayor in the first round. But many French large cities are among the 5,000 remaining, including Paris, Lyon and Marseille.
Philippe said the elections could only be held at the end of June if conditions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic would allow it and that no final decision had been made, according to party leaders.
A postponement beyond July 1 would require cancelling the results of elections held in March for the cities that did not elect a mayor at the first round and organising a new ballot.
The first round was just two days before the start of a nationwide lockdown, to the bewilderment of many as Philippe then said the vote would go ahead even as he declared all cafes, bars, cinemas and non-essential shops would close until further notice.
Its lockdown started to ease last week.
France’s total death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose to 28,132 on Wednesday, the world’s fifth-highest tally, as the number of Covid-19 patients in the country’s hospitals continued to fall.
France’s health ministry reported 110 new fatalities at hospitals and care homes for the elderly, a day after revising the total death toll downwards due to adjustments reported by regional health centres.
The number of confirmed cases increased by 418 to 143,845 on Wednesday, an increase of 0.3%, in line with the average rise per day seen since the end of a lockdown on May 11.
The ministry said the number of people in hospitals fell to 17,941 from 18,468 on Tuesday and the number of people in intensive care units dropped to 1,794 from 1,894.
Both numbers — key indicators for the French health system’s ability to cope with the pandemic — have been on a downtrend for five weeks and peaked at more than 32,000 and more than 7,000 respectively in early to mid-April.
