While the far-right National Rally has yet to convince other more moderate right-wing parties to join forces, the Socialist Party teamed up with the more radical France Unbowed in several cities where the hard-left party performed surprisingly well — including Toulouse, home to European aerospace giant Airbus, and Clermont-Ferrand, where tire-maker Michelin is located.
Those unions on the left came after the Socialists had vowed heading into the contest not to work with France Unbowed on the national level. But the party’s relatively weak performance in cities saw local politicians effectively ignore that decision locally to either keep control of certain municipalities or take them from the right, even if it means empowering France Unbowed ahead of next year’s presidential race.
Les Républicains, the historic party of French conservatism, has not endorsed any of the several far-right candidates who made the runoff in southern cities such as Marseille or Toulon, but has not explicitly called on its voters to vote strategically against the far right, as it customarily did in the past.
In Nice, where current mayor Christian Estrosi could lose to National Rally ally Eric Ciotti, Les Républicains President Bruno Retailleau said it was up to voters to pick their preferred candidate and refused to weigh in on the race — even though his party officially supports Estrosi. Nice, the unofficial capital of the French Riviera and the fifth most populous French city, would be the biggest win ever for the far right.