a rehearsal before the presidential election

All the staffs of the political parties have in mind the election for the presidency of the Republic in 2027. However, the municipal elections of 2026 were the last direct election before the meeting in the spring of next year. In the large urban centers at least, the choices of alliance or confrontation seem to have been dictated by the preparation of the supreme election.

The joint lists between right-wing Macronists and LR elected officials in Paris, in the west of the Parisian suburbs, in Bordeaux behind Thomas Cazenave (Renaissance), in Nantes behind Foulques Chombart de Lauwe (LR) appear as so many testing grounds for a possible common and unique candidacy of a bloc formed by the right and the center.

On the left, 2026 municipal elections which accelerate the recomposition and rivalries

On the left, the 2026 municipal elections could accelerate the recomposition. For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, probable LFI candidate in 2027, the capture of Roubaix confirms his strategy. In the large northern city, as in the northern suburbs of Paris, characterized by a high percentage of populations with an immigrant background, the challenge of addressing as a priority “the new France” and its voters was a winner.

Aged 74, the tribune knows that he is fighting his last fight and does not forget that in 2017 he lost qualification for the second round by 600,000 votes. Aspiring to the supreme office, Raphaël Glucksmann (Place publique, PP) condemned the mergers of the left and environmentalist lists with those of France Insoumise: his candidates withdrew each time.

The champion of the social-democratic left of the Europeans of 2024 ostensibly stages the duel he hopes for next year, against Jean-Luc Mélenchon. And now justifies his refusal to participate in a primary with the environmentalists, “who make alliances with LFI”.

RN in dynamics, at the center of ambitions already in battle order for 2027

At the other end of the political spectrum, the RN wants to see in these results the confirmation of its irresistible rise at a time when all the polls give its next candidate for the Elysée, whoever they may be, far ahead in the first round.

Individually, the re-election in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) of Édouard Philippe, against his communist and RN adversaries, confirms his status as presumed favorite candidate in the center. The victories of the communist Fabien Roussel elected in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (North), of the sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan in Yerres (Essonne), of the liberal David Lisnard in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), elected in the first round and declared candidates for the race for the Elysée have the value of a “warming round” to use the words of political scientist Jérôme Jaffré.