The Socialist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire won the race for Paris mayor this Sunday, the 22nd, succeeding party colleague Anne Hidalgo as mayor of the French capital, while the results of the final round of the municipal elections showed clear gains for the left and traditional right, and a major victory for the far right in the city of Nice on the French Riviera.
The vote is a test of the balance of power on the French local political map before the 2027 presidential race begins to take shape. Final results were still pending in large cities, including Paris.
Grégoire claimed victory after estimates based on partial results placed him well ahead of his conservative rival Rachida Dati, who conceded defeat.
Grégoire said “tonight is the victory of a certain vision of Paris: a vibrant Paris, a progressive Paris,” before riding by bicycle through the streets of Paris to City Hall.
The French voters returned to the polls this Sunday for the final round of the municipal elections in 1,500 municipalities, including major cities. Mayors and municipal councilors are elected for six years.
Turnout at 5 p.m., local time, was just over 48% in metropolitan France, higher than in the 2020 vote held during the COVID-19 pandemic, but four points below 2014 according to the Interior Ministry. Polling stations remained open until 8 p.m. in the largest cities.
Nice, the fifth-largest city in France on the French Riviera, became the far-right’s loudest victory on Sunday with the victory of Eric Ciotti, a former conservative who allied himself with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN).
However, Le Pen’s party lost in several cities it had identified as top priorities.
This includes the Mediterranean city of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, where the left-wing mayor Benoît Payan defeated far-right candidate Franck Allisio.
Far-right candidates lost to traditional rivals in the southern cities of Nîmes and the port of Toulon, an important naval base on the Mediterranean, which had been two main targets for the RN.
*Source: Associated Press.
