French local elections 2026 Uncertainty reigns in France’s largest cities after Sunday’s first round of local elections, starting with Paris, where the Socialist candidate was leading, but whose victory in the second round could be upset by the hard left candidate’s remaining in the race. The far right appeared strong in several southern cities, including Marseille, where the party’s candidate is neck and neck with the incumbent left wing mayor. Campaign posters for Paris mayor featuring right wing candidate Rachida Dati (R) and Socialist Emmanuel Gregoire (L). Advertising Read more In the vast majority of France’s 34,000 villages, towns and cities that went to the polls Sunday, the mayor was expected to be elected in the first round, but races in many larger cities will go to a second round next Sunday, 22 March, and parties are looking to form alliances. Socialist in the lead in Paris According to official results, in Paris the Socialist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire won 37.98 percent of the vote, ahead of the conservative candidate Rachida Dati, 25.46 percent. Dati, the former culture minister, is hoping to shift the balance of power in the French capital, which has been run by the left for the past 25 years. The hard left France Unbowed (LFI) candidate, Sophia Chikirou, was neck and neck with Pierre-Yves Bournazel, from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance group, both with over 11 percent of the vote, while Sarah Knafo, vice-president of the nationalist far right Reconquest party, only just qualified for the second round with 10.4 percent. France's local elections: who are the contenders in the battle for Paris? Dati will need to unite the right around her candidacy to win. “Division weakens us,” she said on Sunday evening, referring to the lists led by Bournazel and Knafo. She later wrote on X that she had spoken with Bournazel to propose a joint list. Grégoire’s lead could be threatened by a three-way race involving Chikirou. He called on “all voters from the republican camp, the camp of progress, whatever their choice this Sunday, to support the list we are putting forward”, without mentioning Chikirou. Alliances against the far right next week in the second round could prove difficult, with several left-wing leaders refusing to work with the LFI after the killing last month of a far right activist blamed on hard left militants. Marseille in the balance In the second-largest city, Marseille, the far right National Rally candidate Franck Allisio won 35.35 percent of the vote, putting him neck and neck with the incumbent left-wing mayor, Benoît Payan, with 35.5 percent. The second round hinges on whether the list led by LFI MP Sébastien Delogu, who won just over 13 percent of the vote, merges with Payan’s list or withdraws in his favour. Payan said he would engage in “no backroom negotiations, no political horse trading”, a position that Delogu described as “irresponsible”. Payan had previously rejected a “technical merger” of left-wing lists and instead called for the LFI list to withdraw. Alliance with hard left in Lyon? LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the party was urging the left to accept the “outstretched hand” of his movement to defeat the far right. That could happen in Lyon, where the incumbent Green mayor Grégory Doucet, backed by the Socialists, Place Publique and the Communists, managed to hold his ground against Jean-Michel Aulas, who leads a joint centre-right list. LFI candidate Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi, who won just over 10 percent of the vote, called for a “technical merger” of her list with Doucet’s “to keep the city on the left”, a possibility Doucet did not rule out during the campaign. LFI is leading strongly with 45 percent of the vote in the northern town of Roubaix, which would become the largest city run by the party if it wins in the second round. The mayor is the democratic figure in whom the French have the most confidence Far right gains The far right also made gains. In Perpignan, National Rally mayor Louis Aliot was re-elected with 50.61 percent of the vote. The city remains the largest municipality currently controlled by the party. In Nice, an ally of the far right held a lead of around ten points, according to estimates. The far right candidate was also ahead in the southern city of Toulon, leading the incumbent mayor, according to projections. “Change will not wait for 2027. It starts next Sunday. It starts in seven days,” National Rally leader Jordan Bardella told supporters, referring to the presidential election next year. The local races are seen as an early indicator of political trends and tactical voting for that election, where the National Rally sees an opportunity to take power, as Macron is due to step down after two terms in office. Bardella said several outgoing mayors from the party had already been re-elected in the first round, and called on centre-right politicians to join forces with the National Rally in the second round. According to early results, Édouard Philippe, a centrist seen as a strong contender for the presidential election, appeared well placed to remain mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre. Low turnout According to estimates from several polling organisations, overall turnout stood between 56 percent and 58.5 percent, compared with 63.55 percent in 2014. That would make it the lowest turnout for the municipal elections apart from the 2020 vote, which took place during the Covid pandemic. 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