French regional elections, 1998
Encyclopedia
Regional elections were held in France on 15 March 1998. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 région
s, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets. The parliamentary right, led by the conservative Rally for the Republic
and the centre-right Union for French Democracy
won the presidency of 14 of the 26 regions, the rest were won by the French Socialist Party
and its allies (Communists, Greens, Radicals). The far-right National Front obtained good results, increasing its number of seats. The far-left and Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition also won seats on various regional councils.
The election was held using a one round proportional system (with a 5% threshold), later abolished for the 2004 elections.
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
s, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets. The parliamentary right, led by the conservative Rally for the Republic
Rally for the Republic
The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...
and the centre-right Union for French Democracy
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
won the presidency of 14 of the 26 regions, the rest were won by the French Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
and its allies (Communists, Greens, Radicals). The far-right National Front obtained good results, increasing its number of seats. The far-left and Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition also won seats on various regional councils.
The election was held using a one round proportional system (with a 5% threshold), later abolished for the 2004 elections.
Presidents of the Regional Council
- AlsaceAlsaceAlsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
: Adrien ZellerAdrien ZellerAdrien Zeller , was the president of the regional council of Alsace from 1996 until 2009. He was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. He was State Secretary of the Social Security in the second Jacques Chirac government from 1986 to 1988...
(UDF-FDDemocratic Force (France)Democratic Force was a French centrist political party founded in 1995 by the merger between the centrist components of the Union for French Democracy : the Christian-democratic Centre of Social Democrats and the Social Democratic Party.It disappeared in 1998, when the UDF confederation became a...
, UMP) - AquitaineAquitaineAquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
: Alain RoussetAlain RoussetAlain Rousset is the Socialist president of the Aquitaine region of France, and a Deputy in the National Assembly of France, representing the 7th constituency of the Gironde....
(PS) - AuvergneAuvergne (région)Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
: Valéry Giscard d'EstaingValéry Giscard d'EstaingValéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
(UDF, UMP) - BourgogneBourgogneBurgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...
: Jean-Pierre SoissonJean-Pierre SoissonJean-Pierre Soisson is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement who is a deputy in the National Assembly of France for the first district of Yonne....
(MDR-UDF, UMP) FN support - BrittanyBrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
: Josselin de RohanJosselin de RohanJosselin Charles Louis Jean Marie de Rohan-Chabot, 14th Duke of Rohan, known as Josselin de Rohan was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Morbihan department...
(RPR, UMP) - Champagne-ArdenneChampagne-ArdenneChampagne-Ardenne is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium, and consists of four departments: Aube, Ardennes, Haute-Marne, and Marne. The region is famous for its sparkling white wine . Its rivers, most of which flow west, include the...
: Jean-Claude Étienne (RPR, UMP) - CorseCorsicaCorsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
: José Rossi (RPR, UMP) - Franche-ComtéFranche-ComtéFranche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
: Jean-François HumbertJean-François HumbertJean-François Humbert is a French politician and a member of the Senate of France. He represents the Doubs department and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement Party....
(UDF-PPDF, UMP) - GuadeloupeGuadeloupeGuadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...
: Lucette Michaux-ChevryLucette Michaux-ChevryLucette Michaux-Chevry was the head of the Regional council of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe between 1992 and 2004.She was born on March 5, 1929, and has completed law studies at Sorbonne university in Paris...
(RPR, UMP) - GuyaneFrench GuianaFrench Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
: Antoine KaramAntoine KaramAntoine Karam served as the President of the Regional Council of French Guiana, a région d'outre-mer of France, from 1992 to 2010....
(PSG) - Île-de-FranceÎle-de-France (région)Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
: Jean-Paul HuchonJean-Paul HuchonJean-Paul Huchon is a civil administrator and French politician. Mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine from 1994 to 2001, he is the President of the regional council for Île-de-France since 1998.- Biography :...
(PS) - Languedoc-RoussillonLanguedoc-RoussillonLanguedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...
: Jacques Blanc (DL, UMP) FN support - LimousinLimousin (région)Limousin is one of the 27 regions of France. It is composed of three départements: Corrèze, Creuse and the Haute-Vienne.Situated largely in the Massif Central, as of January 1st 2008, the Limousin comprised 740,743 inhabitants on nearly 17 000 km2, making it the second least populated region of...
: Robert Savy (PS) - LorraineLorraine (région)Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
: Gérard LonguetGérard LonguetGérard Longuet is a French conservative politician. On 27 February 2011, he became the new French Defense Minister.-Biography:...
(RPR, UMP) - MartiniqueMartiniqueMartinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
: Alfred Marie-JeanneAlfred Marie-JeanneAlfred Marie-Jeanne is a French politician in Martinique, a leader in the Martinican Independence Movement since 1978. He served as mayor of the commune of Rivière-Pilote from 1971 to 2000 and served as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from March 20, 1998 to March 2010...
(MIM) - Midi-PyrénéesMidi-PyrénéesMidi-Pyrénées is the largest region of metropolitan France by area, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark.Midi-Pyrénées has no historical or geographical unity...
: Martin MalvyMartin MalvyMartin Malvy is a French politician. He is a member of the Socialist Party.In 1992, he was the spokesmen of the French government. Between 1992 and 1993, he was Minister of Budget. He is president of the Région Midi-Pyrénées since 1998.-External links:...
(PS) - Nord-Pas de CalaisNord-Pas de CalaisNord-Pas de Calais , Nord for short, is one of the 27 regions of France. It consists of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium. Most of the region was once part of the Southern Netherlands, within the Low Countries, and gradually became part of France...
: Michel DelebarreMichel DelebarreMichel Delebarre is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Nord department, and is a member of the Socialiste, radical, citoyen et divers gauche. He is also mayor of Dunkirk ....
(PS) - Basse-NormandieBasse-NormandieLower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...
: René GarrecRené GarrecRené Garrec is a member of the Senate of France, representing the Calvados department. He is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.-References:*...
(DL, UMP) - Haute-NormandieHaute-NormandieUpper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...
: Alain Le VernAlain Le VernAlain Le Vern is a French Socialist Senator and is president of the Haute-Normandie region. He is also the inaugural President of the transnational Arc Manche Assembly....
(PS) - Pays de la LoirePays de la LoirePays de la Loire is one of the 27 regions of France. It is one of the regions created in the late 20th century to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful so-called "balancing metropolises" ¹...
: François FillonFrançois FillonFrançois Charles Armand Fillon is the Prime Minister of France. He was appointed to that office by President Nicolas Sarkozy on 17 May 2007. He served initially until 13 November 2010 when he resigned from being prime minister before a planned cabinet reshuffle.On 14 November 2010, Sarkozy...
(RPR, UMP) - PicardiePicardiePicardy is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.-History:The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department...
: Charles Baur (UDF-FD, DVD, UMP) FN support - Poitou-CharentesPoitou-CharentesPoitou-Charentes is an administrative region in central western France comprising four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. The regional capital is Poitiers.-Politics:The regional council is composed of 56 members...
: Jean-Pierre RaffarinJean-Pierre RaffarinJean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...
(UDF-DL, DL, UMP) replaced by Elisabeth MorinÉlisabeth MorinÉlisabeth Morin-Chartier is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament elected in the 2009 European election for the West France constituency...
(UMP) CPNT support - Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurProvence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...
: Michel Vauzelle (PS) - RéunionRéunionRéunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
: Paul VergèsPaul VergèsPaul Vergès is a Réunionese politician. Vergès founded the Communist Party of Réunion in 1959, a party which he led until he retired in 1993...
(PCR) - Rhône-AlpesRhône-AlpesRhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
: Charles MillonCharles MillonCharles Marie Philippe Millon, born on 13 November 1945 in Belley, Ain, is a French politician. A member of the UDF, he was member of the French parliament for Ain and President of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council. He was Minister of Defence from 1995 to 1997 in Alain Juppé's government, and led...
(UDF-DL, DLC) replaced by Anne-Marie Comparini (UDF)