One then two stamps on the electoral card.
Those who voted in the regional elections this Sunday were also able to vote for the departmental elections, except in departments where there is no departmental council, such as in Paris, in the Metropolis of Lyon or in Corsica.
Between maintaining historic parties, conquering LREM and hopes of the National Rally, several hot spots were to be observed, six years after the last departmental elections.
First lesson: the results of the first round come to support the hypothesis of the "bonus to leaving", without great surprise, with leavers (PS and LR in most cases) who most often come out on top.
Note, however, the case of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence where the department, on the left since 1998, falls from the first round into the hands of the Republicans (31.2% of the vote against 21.4% for the left).
Read alsoFirst round of the departmental elections: all the results
LREM, which could be proud of chairing two departmental councils, will he be able to keep them? In the Puy-de-Dôme, where the president of the departmental council, Jean-Yves Gouttebel (LREM and the Territory of progress movement), did not represent himself, it could be complicated. The left came in first and even won several seats at the end of the first lap. Everything will be decided next Sunday. The match is also likely to be tight in Seine-Maritime for the majority, which faces pairs of the PS or the RN.
The RN hoped for a breakthrough in several departments.
With nearly or more than 30% of the vote, he is leading this Sunday evening in Gard, Aisne, Hérault, Pas-de-Calais or even Vaucluse.
It will therefore be necessary to count on RN pairs next Sunday, for the second round, but to a lesser extent compared to what Marine Le Pen's party hoped for.
The "celebrities" in the lead in their cantons
Several cantons were to be watched because of the notoriety of the candidates.
In the North, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, qualified for the second round on Sunday, after receiving 54% of the votes in his favor (but with too strong an abstention to be able to be elected in the first round).
"A big thank you to the voters of Tourquennois who placed us very largely in the lead", he wrote, giving "an appointment for the second round next Sunday".
Same result for the Minister of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu, who comes far ahead in his canton of Vernon, in the Eure, with almost 59% of the vote.
In Pas-de-Calais, in the canton of Desvres Marquise, it was Minister Brigitte Bourguignon who wore the colors of the majority: she gathered around 33% of the votes for her benefit, ahead of the RN (23%).
Other personality: Claude Chirac. The youngest daughter of Jacques and Bernadette Chirac, who is taking her first steps on the political scene here, in the second canton of Brive-la-Gaillarde, in Corrèze, obtains more than 58% of the votes, but abstention (68.5 %) also forces him to go through a second round, next Sunday.