The first round of voting to elect France’s mayors concluded on Sunday, a test of the political mood a year before key presidential elections, with pollsters announcing low turnout.
The ascendant right sees next year’s contest as a strong chance to still take power, with centrist President Emmanuel Macron stepping down after a maximum of two terms in office.
Elections to around 35,000 villages, towns and urban areas will be held in two rounds on consecutive Sundays.
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After record-low turnout in last local elections in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, analysts were scrutinizing the races to gauge possible voter exodus.
According to estimates by several polling agencies, overall voter turnout was between 56 percent and 58.5 percent, compared to 63.55 percent in similar elections in 2014.
“Apart from 2020, we have reached record lows under the Fifth Republic,” Francois Crouse of the IFOP polling institute, which has tracked the political system since 1958, told AFP.
“Public apathy is growing,” added Adelaide Zulfikarpacic of pollster IPSOS BVA, “which is not good news for our democracy.”
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About 90 percent of France’s communes are small rural constituencies where local elections have traditionally been politicized, although races can provide a snapshot of the country’s mood, political scientist Nonna Meyer said.
“In big towns, national issues become more important and they can give some clues about the electoral dynamics of major parties,” the mayor told AFP.
He said it will matter who wins cities like Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nice.
‘Political Evolution’
Clarisse Bremaud, a 26-year-old show producer, was among the voters being cheated in and out of polling stations in central Paris.
“It is important for me to participate in every election,” he told AFP.
“I think it’s more critical today with what’s happening in France — especially with the evolution of politics in France and the world.”
Historically, France’s major cities have been governed by center-left parties or right-wing republicans.
In contrast, firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s hard-left party Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally and Macron’s centrists have struggled to establish a strong local footprint.
The National Rally (RN), which controls only one major city with more than 100,000 inhabitants — Perpignan — hopes to capture other urban centers in the south of the country, including Toulon and France’s second-largest city, Marseille.
The strong showing marks an important milestone in the RN’s long-term effort to gain wider acceptance in the political mainstream.
The anti-immigration party sees the elections as an opportunity to show governance at the local level.
Battle for Paris
In the highest-profile contests, former prime minister and potential presidential contender Edouard Philippe is hoping to retain his seat as mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre, a role he has held since 2014.
A defeat for Philippe, 55, seen by some as a strong candidate to take on Le Pen or her lieutenant Jordan Bardella in the 2027 election, would deplete his political capital.
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All eyes are also on the battle for Paris, where former culture minister Rachida Doty hopes to wrest control of the city from the left that has run the French capital for the past quarter century.
Dati will go neck-to-neck with leftist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire, 48.
If Paris loses, the Socialist Party will be dealt a blow before the presidential campaign.
“I had zero hesitation about who to choose,” 65-year-old civil servant Anne Torregrossa told AFP in Paris, adding that her priorities included “the environment, civil liberties and living together in harmony”, though she declined to reveal her choice.
Many of the mayoral candidates are estranged from political parties, with voters excited by the elites and reflecting the paralysis that has gripped the country since Macron called snap elections in 2024.
In the week between the two rounds, political parties are expected to strike deals with rivals and join forces against powerful opponents.
“The strategic voting pattern provides a forecast for the year ahead,” said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director of risk analysis firm Eurasia Group.
(With FRANCE 24 AFP)
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