{"id":8699,"date":"2026-04-23T18:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/8699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:03:17","slug":"socialist-emmanuel-gregoire-becomes-new-mayor-of-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/8699\/","title":{"rendered":"Socialist Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire becomes new mayor of Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 Socialist candidate Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire won the Paris race Sunday, succeeding fellow party member Anne Hidalgo as the French capital\u2019s mayor, as results of the final round of municipal elections<\/a> showed clear gains for the traditional left and right, and one major win for the far right in the French Riviera city of Nice.<\/p>\n

French voters returned to the polls Sunday in about 1,500 communes. The vote is seen as a test of the balance of power on France\u2019s<\/a> local political map before the 2027 presidential race begins to take shape.<\/p>\n

Definitive results were still pending Sunday evening in largest cities.<\/p>\n

About 93% of 35,000 villages, towns and cities selected their mayors in the first round last week, with mostly one or two candidates, not associated with any party, competing.<\/p>\n

Left-wing leadership for 25 years in Paris<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e9goire, who led a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists, claimed victory after estimates based on partial results placed him well ahead of conservative rival Rachida Dati, who acknowledged defeat.<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e9goire said \u201ctonight is the victory of a certain vision of Paris: a vibrant Paris, a progressive Paris,\u201d before heading on a bicycle through the streets of Paris to the City Hall, where he was greeted by Hidalgo. The French capital has had a left-wing leadership for 25 years. <\/p>\n

Gr\u00e9goire said Parisians made a clear choice in favor of the left as Dati, the right-wing candidate, was backed by the far right. \u201cThis message is clear: Paris is not, and never will be, a far-right city,\u201d he said. \u201cStarting tomorrow, our country enters its next democratic challenge: the 2027 presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hidalgo, elected in 2014 and reelected in 2020, chose not to seek a third term after leading the city through the 2015 extremist attacks and the 2024 Paris Olympics<\/a>. Mayors and municipal councilors are elected for six years.<\/p>\n

Resounding far right victory in Nice<\/p>\n

Nice, France\u2019s fifth largest city on the French Riviera, becomes the most resounding win of the far right Sunday with the victory of Eric Ciotti, a former conservative who allied with the National Rally of Marine Le Pen.<\/p>\n

However, Le Pen\u2019s party lost in several cities it had identified as top priorities.<\/p>\n

That includes the Mediterranean city of Marseille, France\u2019s second largest city, where incumbent left-wing Mayor Beno\u00eet Payan won over National Rally candidate Franck Allisio.<\/p>\n

Far-right politicians have lost to mainstream rivals in the southern cities of N\u00eemes and the port of Toulon, a major naval base on the Mediterranean, which were two key targets for the National Rally. <\/p>\n

Still, National Rally president Jordan Bardella praised victories in smaller towns and election of many municipal councilors across France, calling it \u201cthe greatest breakthrough in their history in this municipal election,\u201d Bardella said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe successes of this evening are not an end, but a beginning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Key races ahead of next year\u2019s presidential election<\/p>\n

Other large-city contests have also been watched closely.<\/p>\n

In the northern port city of Le Havre, incumbent Mayor \u00c9douard Philippe won a clear victory that strengthens his political standing as a potential presidential contender. Philippe, a center-right politician, was President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> \u2019s prime minister for three years.<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s centrist movement, which lacks local grassroots support, achieved one major result in the southwestern city of Bordeaux, where its candidate Thomas Cazenave, a former minister, won over the Green party outgoing mayor. Macron\u2019s party kept a low profile in many of the most closely watched races. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Some linked Sunday\u2019s vote to a darker international backdrop and to the presidential race looming next year. \u201cWe have war in Ukraine, war in Gaza, war in the Middle East,\u201d said Elena Van Langhenhoven, 81. \u201cAnd France, will it see a major shift next year, in the presidential elections? It\u2019s horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Alex Turnbull and Catherine Gaschka contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Socialist candidate Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire won the Paris race Sunday, succeeding fellow party member Anne Hidalgo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[388,285,487,391,6192,375,6986,386,36,6955,5,349,83,3954,2645,30,346,382,387,6985,90],"class_list":{"0":"post-8699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-anne-hidalgo","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-conservatism","12":"tag-edouard-philippe","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-elena-van-langhenhoven","15":"tag-emmanuel-grgoire","16":"tag-emmanuel-macron","17":"tag-eric-ciotti","18":"tag-france","19":"tag-france-government","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-jordan-bardella","22":"tag-marine-le-pen","23":"tag-paris","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-rachida-dati","26":"tag-socialism","27":"tag-thomas-cazenave","28":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}