France: Local elections reward the Socialists, with the PS taking the main cities

Brussels – The French Socialist Party (PS) is still alive and kicking. This is probably the key political takeaway from France’s local elections. The results have revealed a country where the right is struggling to make headway, without breaking through, and where the PS is holding its ground and making progress without needing allies. Thus, the traditional left has retained Paris and Marseille, and won Lille and while Lyon remains in the hands of the ecologists in alliance with various forces of the left.

Amid the socialist surge, the Socialist Party candidate, Jérôme Marbot, has won in the municipality of Pau against the outgoing Macronist François Bayrou, who served as Prime Minister for less than a year and was ousted at the beginning of September 2025 in a confidence vote over the draft budget bill. Renaissance, French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, stands out for its victory in Bordeaux, snatched from the Greens. Édouard Philippe, leader of the Horizons party—founded in 2022 to secure votes for Macron in the presidential election—wins in Le Havre. Philippe intends to stand in next year’s presidential election, and his victory could serve as a springboard.

Le Pen’s right-wing party gained ground, but failed to make a breakthrough in the major cities. Despite its popularity in the polls, the Rassemblement National (RN) failed to win any major municipalities. It has secured victories in small and medium-sized towns, including Carcassonne, Cannes, and Menton. It won in Nice, but not as the leading party, rather as part of a coalition. RN leader Jordan Bardella is nevertheless jubilant: “Never before have the party and its allies secured so many elected representatives across France. These successes are just the beginning.”

Many analysts and observers view the recent local elections as a sort of test run ahead of the presidential elections next year, when the French will be called upon to choose Emmanuel Macron’s successor; however, it is difficult to gauge to what extent the local elections can serve as a benchmark: voter turnout stood at 57.5 per cent, with almost one in two eligible voters staying at home. The presidential elections could see lower abstention rates: between 2012 and 2022, turnout has consistently fluctuated between 70 per cent and 80 per cent in the first and second rounds.