The prime example is the northern city of Lille, where the France Unbowed candidate was by one projection in a tie with the incumbent center-left mayor. France Unbowed is also on track to come in first in Roubaix, a populous, working-class city on Lille\u2019s outskirts.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s prospects in this contest were very much in question after a controversy surrounding the death of a far-right activist\u00a0last month<\/a>.\u00a0But France Unbowed\u2019s strategy of focusing on young voters and working-class urban populations, often of immigrant descent, is delivering despite repeated controversies, particularly accusations of antisemitism<\/a> against M\u00e9lenchon. <\/p>\n \u201cThis election confirms that there is a strong France Unbowed constituency in big cities,\u201d said Jean-Yves Dormagen, a political scientist and head of polling institute Cluster17.<\/p>\n Dormagen also highlighted the highly polarized and fragmented nature of France\u2019s political landscape, confirmed by Sunday\u2019s results. In many cities, up to four or five candidates qualified for the runoff, a situation that used to be an exception a few years ago.<\/p>\n Moderate left will have a few headaches<\/p>\n This fragmented political landscape is inflicting a series of splitting headaches on France\u2019s ailing moderates, especially on the left, where infighting was already on display on election night.<\/p>\n