Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

were held on 9 and 16 March 2008. These elections coincided with the municipal elections, in which the left did well.

Electoral system

The cantonal elections use a two-round system similar to that employed in the country's legislative elections. *Councillors are elected from single-member constituencies (the

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

). *A candidate securing the votes of at least 25% of the canton's registered voters and more than 50% of the total number of votes actually cast in the first round of voting is thereby elected. If no candidate satisfies these conditions, then a second round of voting is held one week later. *Entitled to present themselves in the second round are the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round, plus any other candidate or candidates who received the votes of at least 10% of those registered to vote in the canton. *In the second round, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes is elected.

Change in control

From right to left

* Ain (PS) *

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

(PCF) *

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

(PS) *

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Lot-et-Garonne Lot-et-Garonne (, ) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres (, Poitevin-Saintongese: ''Deùs Saevres'') is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a ...

(PS) *

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

(PS) *

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.< ...

(PS)

From PCF to PS

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...

From PRG to PS

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/ Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs ; alts piɾiˈneʊs ) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. The department is bordered by Pyrénées-Atlantiques to t ...

From centre to right

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

(UMP)

From left to right

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population ...

(UMP) *

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

(UMP)

From UMP to NC

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

From UMP to DVD

* Jura

Past general council presidents

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

, first secretary of the PS elected in

* Arnaud Montebourg, PS deputy elected in

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

Hervé Gaymard Hervé Gaymard (born 31 May 1960) is a French politician and a member of The Republicans conservative party. He served as the country's Minister of Finance from 30 November 2004 until his resignation on 25 February 2005. Gaymard attended S ...

, former UMP minister elected in

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

* Dominique Bussereau, former UMP minister elected in

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...

* Claude Bartolone, PS deputy elected in

Notable new councillors

* Jean Sarkozy, son of President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, elected in Neuilly-Sud (

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

) as the UMP candidate

National results

Sources

Ministry of the Interior results
{{French local elections

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Cantonal elections