French set to punish Hollande in mayoral runoffs

(Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande's Socialists braced for losses in hundreds of towns and villages in mayoral elections on Sunday, with far-right National Front candidates seen winning a handful of cities for the first time since 1995.

The runoff round of voting comes at the end of a week that saw French unemployment surge to a new record, making a reverse of first round losses unlikely and a cabinet reshuffle by Hollande possible as soon as Monday.

Some 80 percent of the French want him to dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to a Harris Interactive poll last week, and ambitious and tough-talking Interior Minister Manuel Valls comes top of their favourites for the job.

"I can't see how (Ayrault) could stay, unless we save about 30 towns, something nobody really believes," a Socialist Party source said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/30/uk-france-elections-idUKBREA2T04920140330