French Municipal Elections Show Rise of Far-Right and Radical Left

Far-right and radical left parties likely to increase their local presence in advance of next year’s presidential race. The first-round of the French municipal elections have seen a strong showing for Marine Le Pen’s far-right the National Rally (RN), as well as for Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left, with both parties likely to increase their local presence ahead of next year’s French presidential race. The French local elections, which now go to a final round runoff on 22 March, are seen as a crucial test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election. Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in office come to an end in spring 2027 and there is uncertainty about who will next lead the EU’s second-largest economy. For years, French local mayors and councillors – particularly in large cities – have been dominated by the historic, traditional parties: Socialists on the left and Les Républicains on the right. The first-round results on Sunday showed a significant increase in votes in certain towns and large cities for the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI), whose leader Mélenchon is expected to make a fourth bid for president next year. The LFI, which has not historically had a large local presence, scored high in the north, in the town of Roubaix, where it could win the mayor’s position. It also had significant scores in cities including Toulouse, Lille and Limoges, having mobilised young voters. Anti-immigration RN, which has traditionally fared less well in local elections, also celebrated scoring symbolically high in the first round alongside its allies. In France’s second biggest city, Marseille, Franck Allisio, the RN candidate who ran a campaign based on bringing “order” to the streets amid drug gang crime, scored level with the incumbent leftwing mayor, Benoît Payan, at about 35.4%, projections showed. There will now be a tense final-round runoff. Allisio said: “The wind of change is blowing over Marseille … This is more than a score, it’s a promise that tomorrow Marseille becomes the new French example.” Much in Marseille will now depend on whether Payan’s left coalition, which includes the Socialists and Greens, could form an agreement with the LFI to try to hold the RN back. The LFI reached the second round on around 12%, as did the traditional right’s candidate, similarly on 12%. The RN held on to the mayorship of Perpignan, near the Spanish border, which, with a population of 121,000, is the largest city the party has run in the past 20 years. But the RN also scored high in the south in Toulon and Carcassonne, which will face run-offs. In Nice, France’s fifth biggest city, Éric Ciotti, who quit as leader of the traditional right’s party, Les Républicains (LR), to join forces with Le Pen in 2024, scored high and is hoping to win the city from his bitter rival and one-time rightwing ally, Christian Estrosi. The RN would describe the win of a major French city – such as Nice – as a stepping stone to the presidency next year. In Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, the mayoral candidate for a left coalition including Socialists and Greens, was in the lead ahead of the rightwing former culture minister Rachida Dati, projections showed. Paris, which has been run by the left for 25 years, will now face a second-round runoff. Sophia Chikirou, the LFI candidate, also made it to the final round in Paris, as did the centrist Pierre-Yves Bournazel. Chikirou said: “We exist, our voices count.” Her party wanted to stop the right from winning Paris, she said, adding she was open to forming an “anti-fascist front”. Édouard Philippe, the former prime minister, who intends to run as a centre-right presidential candidate next year, had a strong first-round score in the northern port of Le Havre and will now face a final round. In Lyon, the Green mayor Grégory Doucet scored higher than was predicted against Jean-Michel Aulas, the former head of Olympique Lyonnais football club, who is running for the right. There will now be a second-round runoff.