Far right polls strongly in French mayoral elections seen as launchpad for 2027 presidential race

 

Far right polls strongly in French mayoral elections seen as launchpad for 2027 presidential race

France

Candidates for the far-right National Rally posted strong results in the first round of France’s municipal elections on Sunday, winning several races outright and polling neck-and-neck with the incumbent left in Marseille, in the last major test of the French public mood ahead of next year’s all-important presidential election.

 

Issued on: 15/03/2026 - 20:19

Modified: 15/03/2026 - 21:39

 

By:

Benjamin DODMAN

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260315-far-right-polls-strongly-in-french-mayoral-elections-seen-as-launchpad-for-2027-presidential-race

 

The French far right’s steady ascent cleared another milestone on Sunday as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally posted its best-ever results in the first round of municipal elections seen as a test of its presidential ambitions.

 

Incumbent Louis Aliot was comfortably re-elected in Perpignan, the only city with a population above 100,000 the party already ran. National Rally candidates also led the first round in Toulon and were neck-and-neck with the left in Marseille and Nîmes.

 

More than 904,000 candidates were vying for elected posts in roughly 35,000 municipalities across the country, from major cities to villages with only a few dozen inhabitants.

 

The run-up to the vote was largely overshadowed by the Iran war and its fallout, notably the impact on fuel prices. Voter turnout was less than 59%, up from Covid-affected mayoral elections in 2020, but down from the 63.5% registered in 2014.

 

Though mayoral elections are often fought on local issues, they also gauge the public mood, measure parties’ strength and generate momentum – particularly with a presidential contest just around the corner, which polls suggest Le Pen’s party could win.

 

The eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party has traditionally underperformed in municipal polls. Breakthrough wins in next Sunday’s runoffs would further bolster its credibility ahead of the 2027 presidential bout.

 

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One high-profile contender for the Élysée Palace, former prime minister Édouard Philippe, has put his presidential ambitions on the line, suggesting he might drop out of the race if he fails to win re-election in Le Havre.

 

The port city had been billed as a close contest, but exit polls put Philippe 10 points clear of his left-wing rival in the first round of voting, making him a strong favourite to win next week’s second round.

 

A 10% threshold to qualify for the March 22 runoffs means three-, four-, or even five-way races are possible in the second round, making their outcome hard to predict.

 

With France’s fractious left increasingly divided, and the “sanitary cordon” that once barred mainstream conservatives from allying with the far right showing signs of erosion, the focus will now shift to frantic horse-trading as parties work to make alliances in some constituencies or pull out of others.

 

'Earthquake'

Surveys have long shown mayors to be France’s most popular elected officials, leaving less scope for the type of protest vote that was once the far right’s main driver.

 

But Le Pen’s National Rally has grown into more than a magnet for the nation’s discontented, becoming the largest single party in the French National Assembly following a snap election in 2024.

 

Opinion polls show security is voters’ main priority, in line with the party’s law-and-order focus. That focus has lured many voters in violence-plagued Marseille, France’s second-largest city, where RN candidate Franck Allisio was neck-and-neck with the Socialist mayor, Benoît Payan.

 

Payan warned earlier this month that the cosmopolitan city falling into the hands of the far right would be “an earthquake for the country”.

 

In further evidence of conservative voters drifting to the far right, Éric Ciotti, the former leader of the centre-right Les Républicains who is now a Le Pen ally, took a commanding lead in the Riviera city of Nice, 10 points clear of longtime mayor Christian Estrosi from Macron’s centre-right alliance.

 

The surge in support for Le Pen’s party comes as the veteran far-right leader could be barred from challenging again for the presidency herself. Last year, a French court convicted her of embezzlement and prohibited her from seeking public office for five years.

 

Le Pen is hoping that an appeals court clears her in a key verdict set for July 7 – barring which her lieutenant Jordan Bardella is expected to step in as the party's candidate for the Élysée Palace.