France heads to polls on Sunday in municipal elections

France goes to the polls on Sunday in the first round of municipal elections, with voters across all 34,875 communes choosing local councillors who will in turn appoint mayors for the next six years.

A second round is scheduled for 22 March in any commune where no single list secures an outright majority.

Political analysts say the vote is more than a local ballot. With nearly 35,000 separate contests, the results will offer a real-time measure of party strength across France's fragmented political spectrum ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The Marine Le Pen-led National Rally (RN) is treating the elections as a staging ground for that presidential bid. The party is fielding around 600 lists, up from approximately 500 in 2020, and is targeting its traditional strongholds in northern France and the south-east, as well as larger urban areas. Currently holding only 13 mayoralties, Perpignan remains the only city of over 100,000 inhabitants under RN control.

The city to watch most closely is Paris, where the left's 25-year grip on the Hotel de Ville is genuinely in question for the first time. The election follows the two-term tenure of Socialist Anne Hidalgo, who announced in late 2024 that she would not seek a third term. Her former deputy, Emmanuel Gregoire, is heading a joint left-wing list including the Socialists, Les Ecologistes and the French Communist Party. He faces a challenge from Rachida Dati, a former justice minister under Nicolas Sarkozy who resigned as France's culture minister in late February to focus on her Paris campaign.

Pre-election polling by Le Figaro put Grégoire in front on 31%, with Dati on 26% and La France Insoumise candidate Sophia Chikirou on 13%.

Lyon and Marseille are also competitive. In Marseille, Socialist incumbent Benoît Payan was polling at 35%, with RN candidate Franck Allisio close behind at 32%. In Lyon, the Republicans' Jean-Michel Aulas led at 45%, ahead of a broadly united left-wing list on 29%.

Security is the dominant issue nationwide, cited as a major concern by 58% of voters, followed by local surroundings and the environment, local taxes, and the cleanliness of communes. The RN has leaned heavily into the security message. In Perpignan, incumbent RN mayor Louis Aliot has made security the centrepiece of his administration, pitching a programme centred on more police, more cameras and greater public order.

The elections are also taking place against a backdrop of political violence. The killing of far-right activist Quentin Deranque, beaten to death in Lyon in February in a confrontation involving alleged hard-left activists, has fuelled criticism of La France Insoumise. Eleven suspects were arrested, including two parliamentary aides to the party.

Political scientist Nonna Mayer, CNRS research director at Sciences Po in Paris, noted that French municipal elections are unlike any others in Europe, describing 35,000 distinct contests in which mayors carry real executive power and council members hold indirect influence over Senate elections in September.

The RN has long struggled to convert national momentum into local control. One factor complicating its prospects is the French tradition known as the front républicain, whereby parties club together in the second round to block the far right.

Results from the first round will be available on Sunday evening.