Administrative

France, Paris and Marseille remain socialist. Philippe wins in Le Havre

The centre-left is also on the way to victory in Lyon and Strasbourg. The right wins Bordeaux and Ciotti is ahead of Estrosi in Nice

22 March 2026Aggiornato il 23 marzo 2026

Emmanuel Grégoire, candidato del Partito Socialista (PS) e della coalizione di sinistra alle elezioni comunali di Parigi del 2026, festeggia con i sostenitori dopo che gli exit poll lo hanno dato in testa al secondo turno delle elezioni comunali francesi a Parigi, Francia, il 22 marzo 2026. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON EPA

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

It was not a battle to the last vote, nor was it a photo-finish victory: Paris, a socialist fiefdom for 25 years, will remain with the gauche even after Anne Hidalgo.

Emmanuel Grégoire - his heir - largely won the runoff by repulsing the right-wing Rèpublicains of Rachida Dati by a very wide margin: 53% versus 38%, according to initial estimates. Rejected was the alliance of Dati, who had left the government and the Ministry of Culture to run for the capital's municipality, with the Macronians of Pierre-Yves Bournazel, who had withdrawn inviting his voters to vote for the right. Opposite was the strategy of Grégoire, who despite the threat of an opponent who could have also gathered the votes of Sarah Knafo (extreme right of Reconquète!), who withdrew, did not accept the repeated alliance offers of La France Insoumise.

'Paris,' were the first words of newly elected mayor Grégoire, 'has decided to remain faithful to its history. It was the victory of a certain idea of Paris,' he added, 'a vital, progressive, popular Paris, a Paris for all. Paris,' he proclaimed, 'is not and never will be an extreme right-wing city.

Ecologist candidate Grégory Doucet claimed victory in the Lyon municipal elections, while waiting for the final results. Le Figaro reports. "I want to thank you, you have mobilised day and night over the last two weeks," he said, adding, "A new page of Lyon has been written," to the applause of supporters.

Francia, socialista Grégoire nuovo sindaco di Parigi: "Gioia immensa e responsabilità immensa"

The far right sings victory

With a historically low turnout once again (around 57% at the polls, higher only in 2020 with the elections in full pandemic), the growing trend of the extreme right and the extreme left appeared, with different characteristics, to be slowing down. The Rn won in 'dozens of municipalities' in this runoff, Marine Le Pen proclaimed tonight, rejoicing at an 'immense victory' for her party which now has 'thousands of municipal councillors'. The outgoing mayor of the Greens in Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, announced his defeat against MP Thomas Cazenave, who won the support of the entire centre-right. This was reported by broadcaster Bfmtv. In Nice, Éric Ciotti won the second round with 46.2% of the vote, according to initial estimates by Elabe-Berger Levrault for BFMTV, RMC and Le Figaro. He overtook the outgoing mayor Christian Estrosi, who got 38.1% of the vote. Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux got 15.7% of the vote.

Rn defeated in Marseille, Toulon and Nimes

He lost, however, soundly, in what could have become the first major city to be governed by the extreme right, Marseille. Where Benoit Payan, mayor of the united socialist left, which rejected the alliance offer of Mélenchon's party, repelled the attack of the Rn Franck Allisio, which was beaten soundly. The Rn also lost in cities where it is traditionally strong, such as Tolon and Nimes, also in the south and in the preferred regions.

Amministrative in Francia: ai socialisti Parigi e le grandi città

In Strasbourg

Former socialist mayor Catherine Trautmann is leading in the second round of the municipal elections in Strasbourg, according to the latest Ifop estimates, with 37% of the vote. Trautmann, at the head of a left-of-centre alliance list, is ahead of the outgoing ecologist mayor Jeanne Barseghian, also supported by La France insoumise, who is stuck at 32.1%. In third position is the right-wing candidate Jean-Philippe Vetter with 30.9%. In the first round Trautmann had already taken the lead with 25.93%, followed by Vetter at 24.23%, while Barseghian came third with 19.72%. For the runoff, La France insoumise candidate Florian Kobryn had supported the outgoing mayor's list. Rassemblement national candidate Virginie Joron and centrist Pierre Jakubowicz had not qualified for the second round, with the latter joining Trautmann's list.

Failure of the socialist-Lfi alliance

The number 2 of La France Insoumise, Manuel Bompard, also rejoiced at the 'breakthrough' of his party that 'is confirmed, amplified and strengthened'. Despite the resounding defeat in Limoges and in almost all the towns where the socialists allied with Lfi: a choice that not only proved to be a loser for the socialist, ecologist and communist left. But which has seen the opposite strategy win out, that of rejecting Lfi's offers on the socialist side: this was the case in Paris and Marseille, where Grégoire and Payan won after having - despite the doubts of many - rejected the hypothesis of an alliance with Mélenchon's party. Among the most glaring examples of this trend is the epoch-making defeat of the left (united with Lfi) in a city like Clermont-Ferrand, ruled by the gauche for a good 80 years, by the right-wing Républicains. The socialists allied with Lfi, also lost another hitherto inviolable fiefdom, Tulle, where the former president and former socialist secretary, François Hollande, has been elected for years.

Francia, il nucleare che proteggerà l’Europa?

Philippe, victory for 2027

Importantly, on the horizon of the 2027 presidential elections, the confirmation of Edouard Philippe in the chair of mayor of Le Havre: re-election in the port of Normandy had been considered by the former premier as a condition for him to run for the Elysée. And his fate was scrutinised with great attention by analysts since the polls that have given wings to the ambitions of the extremes see him as the best potential opponent of Marine Le Pen (or Jordan Bardella if the RN leader has judicial impediments) and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Bayrou loses his fiefdom of Pau

The centrist leader François Bayrou, former French prime minister, was officially defeated in the municipal elections in Pau, where socialist Jérôme Marbot was elected mayor according to the final results. Marbot's victory marks a change in the city's leadership, with the left winning the municipality. Former Socialist mayor Catherine Trautmann is leading in the second round of the municipal elections in Strasbourg, according to the latest Ifop estimates, with 37% of the vote. Trautmann, at the head of a left-of-centre alliance list, is ahead of the outgoing ecologist mayor Jeanne Barseghian, also supported by La France insoumise, who is stationary at 32.1%. In third position is the right-wing candidate Jean-Philippe Vetter with 30.9%.