Jacques
Blanc, ex Secreatry of State for Agriculture under Valery d'Estang,
shared the fate of his mentor and was voted out after 18 years of
running the Languedoc Roussillon Region. Blanc list, Union pour
Languedoc Roussillon, crashed to 33.1% of the vote in the second
round in the Languedoc after he failed to win the support of the Languedoc
hunters, CPTN, and the centrist UDF.
George Freche, the long time mayor of Montpellier, with his
Union Toute! list of Socialists, Communists and Greens rose to a surprising
51.7% on an increased turn out throughout the Languedoc.
The Front National, headed in the Languedoc by LePen's old school
friend Alain Jamet, scored 15.72%, a much reduced score from April
2002 Presidencials.
In a system that favours the winning list Freche now heads a left
wing team of 43, Blanc a rump of 16 and Jamet a mere 8.
The Languedoc Left strongest heartland in the region was the Aude,
with 57.41%, stronger even than Freche's own Herault. The demographic
weighting however means that while 7 votes on the Left are Audois
17 are from the Herault.
The agenda of the Languedoc Left is first to clear up the mess of
corruption, politically motivated contracts and badly organised public
finances inherited from the Blanc administration. The next six months
will tell whether the Frech agenda of re-starting Air Litoral, extending
the TGV, and greater economic and cultural co-operation and development
with Catalonia, PACA, and Northern Italy pay off. |
The
Boys to watch in the new administration
Jean-Claude Gayssot. Head of the Communist(PCF) list, ancient
Mininster of Transport.Vice-President of the region with responsibility
for Transport. Can he use his old contacts to improve our public
transport?
Yves Pietrasanta, Head of the Green(les Verts) List, ex-mayor
of Meze. Surprise surprise he wants the enviroment Vice Presidents
job.
Damien Alary. Socialist President of the Gard Department.
Looks likely to get Agriculture.
Chrisian Bourquin, Socialist President of the Pyrenees-Oriental
Department (Roussillon) VP Finance- sorting out Blanc's mess willl
take some time.
Max Levita, Socialist, head of the old socialist group on
the Region. ex-advisor to Claude Allegre when he was Minister for
Education. Needs a reward for a long up hill struggle. VP in charge
of Lycees (Departments look after Ecoles) in fact the biggest part
of the Regions responsibilities.
And the Girl to watch..
Anne-Yvonne Le Dain,Socialist, adjoint to the Marie du Montpellier
since 2001, a professional researcher by profession gets VP Professional
Training. the second largest responsibility of the Region and an
area almost totally ignored by Blanc.
|
Tel
+ e-mail 