In the French municipal elections, the reins of power in the major cities – Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille – have remained in the hands of the Socialists and their political allies, writes the BBC.
However, the far-left and far-right forces have also achieved some success – the candidate of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Alliance (RN) won in Nice, while the left-wing extremist party France Unbowed (LFI) achieved success in Roubaix in northern France.
Alliances of the LFI and large left-wing parties received a big lesson on election night, when voters in Clermont-Ferrand and Brest, which have long been strongholds of the Socialist Party (PS), gave their votes to the centrist and right-wing forces. The opposite effect was observed in the big cities, where the Socialists avoided alliances with the far left – there the PS managed to return to the leadership. The main reason why the Socialists avoided the far left forces was the accusations of anti-Semitism that surrounded them.
Before the municipal elections, there were calls to boycott the LFI after one of the party’s parliamentary assistants was accused of inciting the murder of a far right student in Lyon. The party’s leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon also angered opponents when he appeared to joke in a speech about the Jewish origin of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The victory of the Socialist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire in Paris was predicted in advance,
and he will replace his party member Anne Hidalgo.
The RN, which is currently leading the polls for next year’s presidential election, failed to win enough support from voters in Marseille and Toulon. In Marseille, a Republican candidate also continued to participate in the election, splitting the support of right-wing voters. Meanwhile, in Nice, the leader of the UDR, Eric Ciotti, supported by Le Pen. The RN hailed this as a sign of the right’s comeback, and proof that cooperation with Le Pen is no longer taboo. The RN also managed to win victories in several small towns.
However, the main winners of the election are the big parties. Of political significance is the victory of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in the Normandy city of Le Havre. Philippe is considered a possible centrist candidate in the presidential election, and has previously indicated that he will only participate in it if he is elected in Le Havre.
Overall, the French municipal elections have confirmed the growing influence of far-left political forces on the outskirts of large cities, while the far-right has asserted its presence in the French provinces, outside the big cities. The success of the major parties gives them hope that, when competing with the extreme parties in the presidential election, they will still win. However, this does not resolve the concerns that remain – that extremist candidates will face each other in the second round of the presidential election.
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