Paris’s mayoral handover was confirmed Sunday as Socialist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire won the city’s race, succeeding fellow party member Anne Hidalgo, with the final round results also pointing to broader gains for both the traditional left and right across France. Results in the largest cities were still pending late Sunday, but the election’s direction was clear enough to shape interpretations of where France’s local balance of power stands ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Grégoire, who led a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists, said after victory that “tonight is the victory of a certain vision of Paris: a vibrant Paris, a progressive Paris,” before going to City Hall by bicycle. Hidalgo, elected in 2014 and reelected in 2020, had chosen not to seek a third term after leading the city through the 2015 extremist attacks and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hidalgo’s departure marked the end of 25 years of left-wing leadership in Paris, with mayors and municipal councilors elected for six-year terms. On Sunday, Grégoire characterized the vote as a rejection of far-right influence in the capital, saying that Parisians made “a clear choice in favor of the left” as Dati, a right-wing candidate, was backed by the far right.
Grégoire told voters that message “is clear: Paris is not, and never will be, a far-right city,” and added that “Starting tomorrow, our country enters its next democratic challenge: the 2027 presidential election.” Conservative candidate Rachida Dati acknowledged defeat, after estimates based on partial results placed Grégoire well ahead.
Away from the capital, Nice provided the most visible far-right win in the second round as Eric Ciotti, a former conservative who allied with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, took the French Riviera city. The result was described as the far right’s most resounding victory of the day, even as Le Pen’s party lost in other major cities it had identified as priorities.
In Marseille, left-wing incumbent Mayor Benoît Payan won against National Rally candidate Franck Allisio, according to the reporting. Far-right politicians also lost to mainstream opponents in Nîmes and in the port of Toulon, a major naval base on the Mediterranean that had been targeted as a key National Rally objective.
National Rally president Jordan Bardella said the party’s gains in smaller towns and the election of many municipal councilors across France signaled momentum for the movement. He called it “the greatest breakthrough in their history in this municipal election,” and said, “The successes of this evening are not an end, but a beginning,” framing the municipal outcomes as an opening toward the national fight next year.
Other large-city contests also drew attention as France prepares for the next presidential campaign. In Le Havre, incumbent Mayor Édouard Philippe, a center-right politician and former prime minister to President Emmanuel Macron, won a clear victory that strengthens his standing as a potential presidential contender. In Bordeaux, Macron’s centrist movement, which has had limited local grassroots support, achieved a key result when its candidate Thomas Cazenave, a former minister, won over the outgoing Green party mayor.
Elena Van Langhenhoven, 81, linked the municipal vote to a wider international backdrop and to uncertainty about what France may do next year. “We have war in Ukraine, war in Gaza, war in the Middle East,” she said, adding that “And France, will it see a major shift next year, in the presidential elections? It’s horrendous.”
Voters returned to the polls Sunday in about 1,500 communes, after roughly 93% of around 35,000 villages, towns and cities chose mayors in the first round last week. With many first-round races featuring one or two candidates not associated with any party, the second round’s contests in major cities were closely watched as a test of how France’s local politics could realign before 2027.
Sources reported Sunday evening that the final tallies were still pending in the biggest cities, leaving some results subject to confirmation as results were finalized.
Associated Press journalists Alex Turnbull and Catherine Gaschka contributed to this report.