Municipal election in France tests the strength of the far right before the presidential election

Pessoa votes in the first round of municipal elections in Paris this Sunday (15) Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters French voters went to the polls this Sunday (15) to elect their mayors, in a closely watched vote seen as a test of the strength of the far right and the resistance of traditional parties ahead of next year’s presidential election. Mayors lead almost 35 thousand municipalities in the country, from large cities to villages with just a few dozen inhabitants. Local results could shape national momentum, especially so close to a presidential election, which opinion polls show the far-right Reunião Nacional (RN) could potentially win. Voting ends at 5pm (Brasília time), with preliminary results being released shortly afterwards. In many medium and large cities, there will be a second round on March 22. See the videos that are trending on g1 The RN, anti-immigration and eurosceptic, has struggled to make significant gains in municipal elections. With candidates in several hundred municipalities, the party hopes to show growing popularity and score some big victories that could boost its presidential campaign. “If the people of Marseille make a courageous choice (…) this will encourage and enlighten the French about the choice they will make next year,” Franck Allisio, RN candidate in France’s second largest city, told Reuters. Allisio is tied in the first round polls with current socialist mayor Benoit Payan, providing RN with a previously unthinkable chance to come to power in a major French city. At a polling station in Marseille, construction worker Serge said he was neither worried nor hopeful about the RN. “They’re not worse than the others. It’s not going to change anything. Nothing changes, and that’s the problem,” said the 61-year-old, who declined to give his last name, adding that security is a priority for him in this election. Opinion polls show that security is voters’ top priority, in line with RN’s focus on law and order. A fundamental question is knowing what alliances the RN will make with other parties between the two rounds and whether this election will break decades of tradition of avoiding the extreme right. The left did well across France in the last municipal elections of 2020. Now it is weakened at the national level. It will be closely watched whether she can keep Paris, as well as some of the cities she won last time, such as Nantes and Strasbourg. Another important question is whether the main left-wing parties will form alliances between the two rounds with the far-left France Insubmissa (LFI) party.

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