Polling booths have closed after the first round of France's municipal elections, considered a litmus test for the presidential elections next year. Provisional results showed the Socialist candidate was leading in Paris, while the far right looked strong in several southern cities, but pollsters said turnout was low.
More than 904,000 candidates are vying for elected posts in roughly 35,000 municipalities across the country, from major cities to villages with only a few dozen inhabitants.
The elections are held over two rounds on consecutive Sundays.
In more than 90 percent of communes, the mayor was expected to be elected in the first round.
But races in many bigger cities are expected to go into second rounds, with parties rushing to strike deals and form alliances.
A 10 percent threshold to qualify for the 22 March runoffs means three-, four-, or even five-way races are possible in the second round, making their outcome hard to predict.
Pollsters said turnout on Sunday was the country's lowest, excluding the last local polls in 2020 held during the Covid pandemic.
Public apathy
According to estimates from several polling organisations, overall turnout stood at between 56 percent and 58.5 percent, compared to 63.55 percent at the equivalent elections in 2014.
The year 2020 aside, "we have reached a record low under the Fifth Republic," the political system since 1958, Francois Kraus of the IFOP polling institute told AFP.
"Public apathy is growing," added Adelaide Zulfikarpasic of pollster IPSOS BVA, saying it was "not good news for our democracy".
The mayor is the democratic figure in whom the French have the most confidence
While nearly 90 percent of France's communes are small rural constituencies where local elections are traditionally depoliticised, the races could nonetheless provide a snapshot of the country's mood ahead of next year's presidentials in which President Emmanuel Macron can't run.
Historically, France's major cities have been governed either by centre-left parties or the right-wing Republicans.
Many mayoral candidates have distanced themselves from political parties, reflecting voters' exasperation with the elites and the paralysis that has gripped the country since Macron called snap elections in 2024.
Race for Paris
According to initial results, in Paris, Socialist candidate Emmanuel Gregoire was in the lead ahead of former culture minister Rachida Dati.
Dati – supported by centre-right Les Républicains (LR) and MoDem – is hoping to wrest control of the city from the left, which has run the French capital for the last quarter-century.
In France's second city, Marseille, an incumbent Socialist mayor, Benoît Payan was neck to neck with far-right National Rally (RN) candidate Franck Allisio.
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"Change won't wait for 2027. It starts next Sunday. It starts in seven days," RN leader Jordan Bardella told supporters.
He also claimed "several outgoing mayors" from the party were re-elected in the first round.
This was the case for the RN candidate Louis Aliot, who was re-elected in Perpignan, the largest city so far under control of the anti-immigration party.
The far-right party's candidate was also in the lead in the southern city of Toulon ahead of the incumbent mayor, projections showed.
Voting instructions
In further evidence of conservative voters drifting to the far right, Éric Ciotti, the former leader of the centre-right LR, who is now a Le Pen ally, took a commanding lead in Nice, 10 points clear of longtime mayor Christian Estrosi from Macron’s centre-right alliance.
In Lyon, incumbent Green mayor Grégory Doucet held the lead in the first round against former OL football club boss Jean-Michel Aulas.
In Le Havre, a centrist touted as a contender for the 2027 presidential race, Edouard Philippe, was well-placed to remain mayor in the northern city in the second-round.
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The former prime minister, seen as one of the best candidates to take on the RN in next year's presidential contest, had made his re-election in the port city a prerequisite of his 2027 campaign.
Macron's Renaissance party saw 100 mayors re-elected after the first round, party leader Gabriel Attal told the media.
On the right, president of Les Républicains Bruno Retailleau gave only one voting instruction for the second round: "no votes for LFI (the hard-left party)."
On the left, Olivier Faure also said there would be no national alliance between the Socialist Party and LFI.
As for LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, he called for "coalitions of the traditional left," which the candidates will then form at the local level.
(with newswires)
