Socialists battle to hold Paris as France holds mayoral elections. 35 minutes ago. Hugh SchofieldParis correspondent, Paris. Reuters. Polls have opened in France for mayoral elections across its cities and major towns, in the last vote before next year’s presidential election.. Excitement is especially high in the capital Paris and the city of Nice on the Riviera.. The capital could shift to the right after 25 years under a Socialist-led coalition, if Rachida Dati comes from behind in the opinion polls to defeat Emmanuel Grégoire.. And in Nice, a hard-right ally of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), Eric Ciotti, seems on course for victory.. But in this second round of municipal elections, the biggest focus across the country is on the hard-left party France Unbowed (LFI).. Getty Images. In many of these places, it has now formed alliances with other left-wing lists – mainly from the Socialist Party (PS) or Greens – in order to concentrate the anti-right vote.. But the key test in these elections – of big importance ahead of 2027 – is whether voters favour or shun these alliances, given the growing criticisms aimed at LFI and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon for alleged antisemitism and pursuing a “sectional”, i.e. Muslim, vote.. Emblematic of this is Toulouse in the south-west, home of France’s aeronautics industry as well as a big student population and a classic French banlieue of high-rise estates.. The city’s centre-right mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc came first in round one, with 37% of the vote. But he was followed by two left-wingers, François Piquemal (27.5%) of LFI, and the Socialist François Briançon (25%).. These two have now merged their lists, giving them a clear lead over Moudenc on paper. If they win it will be the hard-left Piquemal who becomes Toulouse mayor.. The test is to see whether the left/hard-left alliance acts as a clarion call to Toulouse voters or a turn-off.. Getty Images. Similar left-wing pacts have been made in 26 big towns and cities, including Nantes, Grenoble, Lyons, Limoges, Clermont-Ferrand, Brest and Tours – earning the fury of right-wing politicians who call them “alliances of shame”.. The fact of the matter is that these alliances have been forged just weeks after the Socialists led the rest of the mainstream left in a chorus of condemnation of LFI, vowing to forego any future nationwide all-left coalition unless it changed its ways.. This followed the murder of a far-right student in Lyon by suspected far-left militants, including the parliamentary assistant of an LFI MP; and then a speech by Mélenchon in which he performed a nod-and-a-wink to his audience about the Jewish identity of late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.. For opponents of the left, the Socialists have ditched their principles at the first test – tying themselves once again to LFI out of fear of losing votes on their outside flank.. In their defence, the left says the alliances are needed to ward off victory by the far right – ev
