Rarely has victory tasted so bitter, for both the French left and right. How should they interpret the seemingly contradictory results of Sunday's municipal elections, when the left won the right-wing cities of Paris and Lyons, but the right swept the large provincial towns?
The loss of Paris, President Chirac's power base for more than two decades, is a devastating, symbolic and historic blow. But the "blue tide" across the provinces confounds the Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, and his pride in his "excellent record".
The municipal results mark a dramatic shake-up of French political life, one year before presidential and legislative elections. "Everything is open for 2002," the head of the Socialist Party, Mr Francois Hollande, said. "The next year must be one of intense government."
The poll magnified rifts between urban and rural France, between the elite and la France profonde, between party headquarters in Paris and rebellious, neglected voters.
An expression coined by the Socialist Finance Minister, Mr Laurent Fabius - "the lower right" - has come into common usage. The "upper right" - that of President Chirac, his official Gaullist candidate in Paris, Mr Philippe Seguin, and the renegade Gaullist outgoing mayor, Mr Jean Tiberi - lost. The "lower right" - that of farmers and provincial burghers who voted for young candidates in their 30s and 40s in Strasbourg, Aix, Blois, Orleans and a host of other towns and cities - won. The right was helped by the decline of the racist, xenophobic extreme right, whose voters prefer the centre-right RPR and UDF to what they call "the socialo-communists".
On the left, the opposite happened. The "upper left" - the urban elite supported by high-level civil servants and whitecollar workers - won in Paris and Lyons, while the traditional working class electorate of the left swung right. The Communist Party interpreted its defeat as proof that Mr Jospin's "plural left" coalition has not done enough to help those sidelined by the economic recovery.
"There are failures we will have to think about," Mr Jospin said when he arrived at the campaign headquarters of Mr Bertrand Delanoe, the new Socialist mayor of Paris.
Mr Jospin has so far followed a disciplined economic policy - European Monetary Union oblige - but the defection of the "lower left" will put pressure on him to spend more.
While the right is helped by the weakness of the National Front and breakaway MNR, the left is hurt by the disintegration of the French Communist Party (PCF). The PCF lost Nimes, its only city of more than 100,000 inhabitants, and more than a dozen other towns. The famous "red belt" around Paris is disappearing, with the transformation of Argenteuil, Colombes and Pantin into right-wing, and in the latter case Socialist, suburbs.
Mr Bruno Frappat summarised results in the Catholic daily La Croix. Mr Chirac's heirs "destroyed the fortress from which he conquered France", the editorialist wrote. "As for Lionel Jospin, he must meditate the rough lessons coming from the rest of France. Lost cities, defeated ministers, the failure of the far left and Greens to vote for the centre left, decline of the historic Communist ally, lack of interest among the young. To both men, the French have sent the same order: be modest."
The popular electorate rejected "a certain Parisian ministerial arrogance, the sparkles and rhinestone left", said Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace. Marianne magazine agreed, referring to "the fiasco of the chic, media left" symbolised by the Socialist Education Minister, Mr Jack Lang. The two main Socialist winners, Mr Delanoe in Paris and Mr Gerard Collomb in Lyons, are both known for their modesty.