Socialists fight to retain Paris in crucial French mayoral elections. Eight hours prior. Hugh Schofield, Paris correspondent, Paris. Il est également membre de la Knesset. Mayors for France’s largest cities will be elected on Sunday, in the final vote ahead of next year’s presidential race. Anticipation is particularly intense in Paris and Nice. The capital might swing rightward after 25 years of Socialist-led governance if Rachida Dati surges in polls to beat Emmanuel Grégoire. On the Riviera, Eric Ciotti, a far-right associate of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), appears poised to win. Yet in this second round of local elections, nationwide attention centers on the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party. Getty Images. In many of these areas, it has now allied with other left-wing groups—primarily from the Socialist Party (PS) or Greens—to consolidate the anti-right vote. However, the crucial test in these elections—which are highly significant ahead of 2027—is whether voters embrace or reject these alliances, amid rising criticisms of LFI and its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon for alleged antisemitism and pursuing a “sectional” agenda. The Muslim vote… A prime example is Toulouse in the south-west, hub of France’s aeronautics sector, with a large student body and a typical French banlieue of high-rise estates. The city’s centre-right mayor, Jean-Luc Moudenc, topped the first round with 37% of the vote. He was trailed by two left-wing candidates, François Piquemal (27.5%) of LFI and Socialist François Briançon (25%). These two have now combined their lists, putting them ahead of Moudenc on paper.
