One of the key ballots will be in Marseille, the country's second-biggest city, where the second round pits the far-right National Rally (RN) against the incumbent Socialist mayor. In Paris, opinion polls show victory - for the conservatives or the left - is within their margins of error. Close race for ParisIn Paris, which has been run by the left since 2001, the Socialist candidate was ahead in the first round. The thousands of separate municipal ballots are often focused on very local issues and their outcome does not forecast who will win in the April 2027 presidential election. Shifting alliances between voting roundsOne key question is what impact the alliances - or lack of alliances - struck between the two rounds will have.

Source: The Telegraph March 22, 2026 04:44 UTC