Rn uncovered in Marseille, Toulon and Nimes
It 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 socialist and united left, who rejected the alliance offer of Mélenchon’s party, repulsed the attack of the Rn Franck Allisio, 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.
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 saw 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. One of the most striking examples of this trend is the epoch-making defeat of the left (united with Lfi) in a city like Clermont-Ferrand, governed by the gauche for a good 80 years, at the hands of 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.
Philippe, victory for 2027
Important on the horizon of the 2027 presidential elections was the confirmation of Edouard Philippe in the mayoral chair of Le Havre: re-election in the port of Normandy had been considered by the former premier as an indispensable 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 the 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%.