Uncertainty reigns in France’s largest cities after Sunday’s first round of local elections, starting with Paris, where the Socialist candidate was leading, but whose victory in the second round could be upset by the hard left candidate’s remaining in the race. The far right appeared strong in several southern cities, including Marseille, where the party’s candidate is neck and neck with the incumbent left wing mayor.
In the vast majority of France’s 34,000 villages, towns and cities that went to the polls Sunday, the mayor was expected to be elected in the first round, but races in many larger cities will go to a second round next Sunday, 22 March, and parties are looking to form alliances.
