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French PM to seek three-month delay to March 2021 regional elections – Metro US

French PM to seek three-month delay to March 2021 regional elections

Fifth anniversary of the Paris attacks
Fifth anniversary of the Paris attacks

PARIS (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Jean Castex will ask for a three-month delay for upcoming regional elections, normally set for March 2021, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led the country to impose a second national lockdown.

Castex’s office said on Friday that he would look to push back the elections to June next year.

France has the fourth-highest of confirmed cases in the world, at almost 1,9 million, and the number of people hospitalised for the disease reached a new all-time high of 32,638 on Thursday.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)