About this election
The 2021 French regional elections, held on 20 and 27 June 2021, were notable above all for two things: record-low turnout, with roughly two-thirds of voters staying home, and the failure of both the Rassemblement National and President Macron's governing camp to win a single region. Instead, the elections were a triumph of incumbency, as almost every sitting regional president — of left and right alike — was comfortably re-elected, defying months of speculation that the far right might finally capture a region.
As in 2015, regional councillors are elected by a two-round list system with a majority bonus. Lists above 10% in the first round reach the run-off; lists between 5% and 10% may merge. In the second round the leading list takes a quarter of the seats as a bonus, with the rest shared proportionally among lists above 5%, ensuring the winner a governing majority. The elections were held alongside the departmental (cantonal) elections on the same two dates.
Held as France emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and a year before the 2022 presidential election, the regionals were widely treated as a dress rehearsal. Polls had suggested the Rassemblement National could win Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and perhaps other regions, and that Macron's La République En Marche, which had never contested regional elections before, might establish a local base. Both narratives collapsed on the night.
Turnout was historically low — around 33% in both rounds — depressing the far right and the Macronist newcomers, whose electorates were the least likely to vote, while favouring the well-organised, locally rooted incumbents. The Rassemblement National, which led the first round in several regions, won none after the run-off; its vote in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur fell short as the right and left coordinated against it. Macron's camp won no region and few councillors. Les Républicains and their allies held seven regions and the Socialist-led left five, with the Corsican nationalists retaining Corsica — almost exactly reproducing the 2015 map.
The strong showing of Les Républicains' regional barons — Xavier Bertrand in Hauts-de-France, Valérie Pécresse in Île-de-France, Laurent Wauquiez in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — briefly revived hopes that the centre-right could mount a serious 2022 presidential challenge, though the eventual nominee, Pécresse, would finish a distant fifth. The Socialists' survival in five regions, led by figures such as Carole Delga in Occitanie and Alain Rousset in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, gave the battered party a regional foothold. Above all, the abstention crisis raised alarm about the health of French local democracy.
The map of regional control was almost identical to 2015: Les Républicains held the north, east, Paris region, Normandy, the Pays de la Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur; the Socialist-led left held the south-west and centre — Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bretagne, Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté — and Corsica returned its nationalists. The map shown here colours each region by the list that led the first round, with the run-off ultimately confirming the incumbents in office.
Official results from the French Ministry of the Interior — interieur.gouv.fr. The map shows the leading list by region in the first round, built from the ministry's results-by-region files; click a region for the full breakdown.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.