Emmanuel Gregoire, Paris mayoral candidate for the Socialist Party and head of the "left-wing coalition" list (La Gauche unie), arrives at a polling station to vote in the second round of the French mayoral election in Paris, France, Mar 22, 2026. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)

Leftists win mayoral elections in Paris and Marseille

Both victories saw Socialists extend their governance over the two largest cities in France, beating far-right challengers.

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A woman walks past electoral posters of Paris mayoral election candidates Emmanuel Gregoire, of the Socialist Party (PS), head of the "left-wing coalition" list (La Gauche unie), and Rachida Dati, supported by Les Republicains (LR) and the MoDem parties, displayed on electoral campaign panel boards ahead of the second round of the Paris municipal in Paris, France, Mar 20, 2026. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor)
Rachida Dati, Paris mayoral candidate supported by Les Republicains (LR) and the MoDem parties, votes in the second round of the French mayoral election at a polling station in Paris, France, Mar 22, 2026. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)
A dog stands next to people voting in the second round of the French mayoral election at a polling station in Paris, France, Mar 22, 2026. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)
French socialist candidate for Paris mayoral election Emmanuel Gregoire, right, shakes hand with far-left candidate of La France Insoumise for Paris mayoral election, Sophia Chikirou, prior to a TV debate between the two rounds of the Paris municipal elections, Wednesday, Mar 18, 2026, in Paris. (PHOTO: AP/Thibault Camus)

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PARIS: France's two top cities look set to remain under leftist control after mayoral elections, pollsters predicted on Sunday (Mar 22), with the Socialists extending their quarter-century rule in Paris and the far-right losing in the second city of Marseille.

Most of France's almost 35,000 villages, towns and boroughs elected municipal leaders in a first round last weekend, but the races went to run-offs in about 1,500 communes, including bigger urban centres.

The local ballots are being closely watched to gauge the mood on the ground and potential party alliances before the election of a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron next year, with the far-right scenting its best chance yet at seizing power.

In Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire - a 48-year-old former deputy of outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo - beat right-wing ex-minister Rachida Dati, aged 60.

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Former justice and culture minister Dati, a protegee of now-convicted ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, had hoped to seize Paris for the right and become its second female mayor in a row.

"Paris has decided to stay true to its history," Gregoire told a cheering crowd.

In Marseille, the leftist incumbent, Benoit Payan, was comfortably re-elected, beating far-right candidate Franck Allisio, according to projections from several pollsters. 

"REASONS TO HOPE"

In the northern port city of Le Havre, declared presidential candidate Edouard Philippe was re-elected, provisional results showed.

Philippe, a centrist former prime minister, is seen as one of the strongest opponents to the RN's potential presidential pick - whether three-time presidential candidate  Marine Le Pen, 57, or her 30-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella.

"There are reasons to hope," he told his supporters.

"We, the people of Le Havre, say this to the French today: yes, there are reasons to hope in our creative and ambitious youth, capable of imagining and building a new world that is more respectful of human beings than our own, more mindful of our planet and our future," he said.

Le Pen's far-right party had been hoping for wins in southern urban hubs on Sunday, but early projections largely quashed those ambitions.

A right-wing candidate beat the RN in the naval port city of Toulon, while a far-right candidate lost to a Communist in Nimes, a city of 150,000, pollsters suggested.

The far-right party saw its candidate re-elected last Sunday in the southern city of Perpignan of 120,000 inhabitants - the largest in France to be run by the far-right party so far.

Overall turnout stood at 57 per cent - the country's lowest in local polls bar the Covid pandemic-affected last edition in 2020.

Source: AFP/fs

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