The results of the first round of the French local elections are as expected. Sarkozy’s UMP party lost, the socialists won. Since the UMP and the Socialist Party are virtually interchangeable the results are most likely to confirm the Bible: there is nothing new under the sun. Only a forward leap of nationalism would have added some novelty, but that has certainly not happened.

Le Figaro has a fairly complete listing, conveniently in alphabetical order by city, of the results.

First, let's take a look at those members of the government who have been re-elected on the first round:

* Eric Woerth (UMP), Minister of Budget, elected on the first round in Chantilly
* Luc Chatel (UMP), Secretary of State on consumerism, elected on the first round in Chaumont
* Eric Besson (former socialist), Secretary of State on prospectives, re-elected in Donzère
* Hervé Morin, (New Center), Minister of Defense, re-elected in Epaignes
* André Santini (New Center), Secretary of State on public service, re-elected in Issy-les-Moulineaux
* Laurent Wauquiez, Spokesman for the Prime Minister, re-elected in Le Puy-en-Velay
* Jean-François Copé, leader of the UMP party in the National Assembly, re-elected in Meaux
* Christine Boutin (UMP), Minister of Housing, re-elected in Rambouillet as vice-president of the general council, something like a lieutenant governor
* Hervé Novelli (UMP), Secretary of State for external trade, elected in Richelieu
* Michèle Alliot-Marie (UMP), Minister of the Interior, elected in Saint-jean-de-Luz
* Xavier Bertrand (UMP), Minister of Labor, elected in Saint-Quentin
* François Fillon (UMP), Prime Minister, elected in Solesme
* Jean-Louis Borloo (UMP), Minister of Ecology, elected in Valenciennes
* Roger Karoutchi (UMP), Secretary of State on parliamentary relations, elected in Villeneuve-La-Garenne

Other definitive first-round victories worth mentioning are the following:

* Alain Juppé (UMP), former prime minister, and briefly Sarkozy's Minister of Ecology, easily re-elected mayor of Bordeaux.
* Philippe de Villiers (MPF), president of the general council of Vendée is re-elected with 79.2% of the votes. (The office is similar to that of governor.)
* Jean Sarkozy, son of the president, elected to the office of general councillor of the department of Hauts-de-Seine
* Jacques Bompard, (MPF), re-elected mayor of Orange. He is one of the few members of de Villiers' MPF to have won anything. The popular Bompard was for many years a Front National mayor.
* François Hollande, First Secretary of the Socialist Party, re-elected mayor of Tulle. Hollande was the civil union partner for 25 years of former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal.

Besides the above the following provisional results should be noted:

* Rachida Dati (UMP), Minister of Justice, barely missed winning the office of mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris. She will face off next week against the socialist and MoDem candidates.
* Rama Yade (UMP), the very visible Senegalese Secretary of State for Human Rights, won 42% of the votes in Colombes and will try for a victory next week.
* Bertrand Delanoë, (Socialist Party), mayor of Paris, was expected to win on the first round. However, though he did very well, with an ample plurality of 41.9%, he will face off next week against UMP's Françoise de Panafieu. He has stated that he will cooperate with the other left-wing and centrist parties to defeat Panafieu.

Some of the cities that moved from Right to Left, either definitively or provisionally, pending next Sunday's results: Caen, Dieppe, Rodez, and Strasbourg.
Some of the cities that maintained their socialist mayor: Dijon, Evry, Le Mans, Lille, Lyons, Montreuil, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris 3rd and 4th arrondissements, Tourcoing.
The socialist victory in Lyons is considered as an exceptionally crushing blow to the UMP candidate Dominique Perben, former minister of justice.

Many other cities saw a provisional socialist victory that will be definitively decided next week.
While some are proclaiming a definite move to the Left, it must be remembered that the first one to move to the Left and to set the tone for the election was President Sarkozy. If he is willing to hire a plethora of socialists, and to give away the last vestiges of France's sovereignty, he has no cause for complaint about these results.

The Front National, with Marine Le Pen on the slate, lost in Hénin-Beaumont.
Le Salon Beige adds these facts:

Dominique Martin of the Front National came in third with 23.6% of the votes in Cluses. This is only news because the FN seems to have been reduced to a splinter party. Maybe coming in third is a victory.
The Front National received only 2.83% of the votes in Strasbourg. Another nationalist party headed by Robert Spieler received 2.17%. These figures seem to indicate a non-existent nationalist movement in that city. Spieler, like so many nationalists, broke with the FN and formed his own group, causing division on the right. But the character of Jean-Marie Le Pen has much to do with the fall of the FN.