Cantonal elections to elect half the membership of the general councils of France's 100 departments were held on 20 and 27 March 2011.

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
  Cantons of France
  The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
  
  ).
• 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 12.5% of those registered to vote in the canton. This threshold used to be set at 10% and was modified for this election.
• In the second round, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes is elected.

Context

French cantonal elections are usually paired with another election; for example, they were paired with the regional elections in 1998

French regional elections, 1998

Regional elections were held in France on 15 March 1998. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 régions, which, though they don't have legislative autonomy, manage sizeable budgets...

, the municipal elections in 2001

French municipal elections, 2001

Municipal elections were held in France on 11 and 18 March 2001. These elections were marked by a setback for the left and a victory for the right one year before the 2002 presidential election...

, the regional elections in 2004

French regional elections, 2004

Regional elections in were held in France on 21 and 28 March 2004. At stake were the presidencies of each of France's 26 regions which, although they do not have legislative powers, manage sizeable budgets...

, and the municipal elections in 2008

French municipal elections, 2008

The French municipal elections of 2008 were held on 9 March in that year to elect the municipal councils of France's 36,782 communes...

. The 2011 elections were the first cantonal elections since 1992 not to be paired with another election.

Since cantonal councillors are electors for the senatorial elections, and considering that the forces in the Senate are, as of March 2011 almost balanced, the results of this election could play a role in the September 2011 senatorial elections.

Results

Party		First round			Second round		Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%
	Socialist Party Socialist Party (France) The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...  (Parti socialiste)	2,284,967	24.94	150	2,802,094	35.43	820
	Europe Écologie – Les Verts Europe Écologie Europe Écologie was a French electoral coalition created for the 2009 European elections composed of The Greens and other ecologists and regionalists....	752,992	8.22	0	216,144	2.73	27
	Communist Party French Communist Party The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French... (Parti communiste français)	724,911	7.91	19	381,096	4.82	116
	Miscellaneous Left Miscellaneous Left Miscellaneous Left in France refers to left-wing candidates that are not member of any large party. They either include small left-wing parties or dissidents expelled from their parties for running against their party's candidate. Numerous DVG candidates are elected at a local level, and a smaller...  (Divers gauche)	495,822	5.41	57	437,823	5.54	194
	Left Radical Party Left Radical Party The Radical Party of the Left is a minor social-liberal, and in opposition to its common understanding of its name, a moderate centre-left political party in France advocating radicalism, secularism to its french extend known as laïcité, progressivism, pro-Europeanism, individual freedom and...  (Parti radical de gauche)	135,958	1.48	17	119,967	1.51	51
	Left Party Left Party (France) The Left Party is a French democratic socialist political party. It seeks to emulate the German political party Die Linke led by Gesine Lötzsch and Klaus Ernst.- History :...  (Parti de gauche)	92,386	1.01	1	16,095	0.20	5
Total Parliamentary Left		4,487,036	48.97	244	3,972,949	50.23	1,212
	Union for a Popular Movement Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...  (Union pour un mouvement populaire}	1,554,744	16.97	92	1,581,756	20.00	369
	Miscellaneous Right Miscellaneous Right Miscellaneous Right in France refers to right-wing candidates that are not member of any large party. They either include small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their parties for running against their party's candidate, as well as candidates who were never formal members of a party...  (Divers droite)	853,892	9.32	77	744,170	9.41	264
	Presidential Majority Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority The Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority is a structure initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate the political parties that support his action.... -New Centre New Centre New Centre , also known as the European Social Liberal Party is a centre-right political party in France, formed by the members of the Union for French Democracy – including a majority of former parliamentarians – who did not agree with François Bayrou's...  (Majorité-Nouveau Centre)	293,543	3.20	16	289,328	3.66	58
	Presidential Majority Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority The Liaison Committee for the Presidential Majority is a structure initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy to coordinate the political parties that support his action....  (Majorité)	206,488	2.25	21	197,085	2.49	62
Total "Presidential Majority"		2,908,667	31.74	206	2,812,339	35.56	753
	National Front (Front national)	1,379,902	15.06	0	915,504	11.57	2
	Others (Autres)	123,543	1.35	6	95,251	1.20	34
	Democratic Movement Democratic Movement (France) The Democratic Movement , MoDem) is a centrist, social liberal and pro-European French political party that was founded by centrist politician François Bayrou to succeed his Union for French Democracy and to contest the 2007 legislative election, after his strong showing in the 2007 presidential... (Mouvement démocrate)	111,887	1.22	2	74,224	0.94	16
	Other Far-left (Extrême gauche)	53,316	0.58	0	273	0.00	0
	Regionalists and separatists	48,468	0.53	2	18,280	0.23	5
	Other ecologists	34,112	0.37	0	16,074	0.20	2
	Other far-right (Extrême droite}	13,673	0.15	0	4,932	0.06	1
Totals		9,160,604	100.00	460	7,909,826	100.00	2,026
Turnout		9,439,097	44.32		8 513 399	44.77

Abstention: 55.68%; invalid ballots; 2.95%

Sources

• Results (Ministère de l'Intérieur)