The second round of French municipal elections came to a close on Sunday, March 22. They were overwhelmingly characterized by high levels of abstention, and victories for the center-left establishment parties like the Parti Socialiste (PS), and traditional right-wing parties (Les Républicains (LR) in particular) in runoffs against the far-right. However, the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) still made important gains, sinking roots locally and becoming increasingly normalized. Meanwhile, the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) pushed through a recent campaign of vilification and increasing political ostracization to secure some important victories.
Participation in these elections was the lowest seen under the Fifth Republic (established in 1958) with the exception of during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turnout was only 57.4% and 57.3% for the first and second rounds, respectively. This level of abstention indicates a profound disaffection with the French political system amid a backdrop of inflation, austerity, and attacks on the working class under President Emmanuel Macron. It also reflects a frustration with the establishment’s broken promises and inaction in the face of crumbling infrastructure, cuts to social services, and the deteriorating standards of living for working people.
Votes Against the Far Right
This is coupled with a strong tendency towards lesser evilism with the end of stopping the RN (which is currently topping opinion polls for the 2027 presidential elections) from taking power locally, often with the goal of halting its national momentum in mind. This has resulted in victories for center-left establishment forces such as the PS and Les Écologistes, e.g. in the country’s two largest metropolitan centers of Paris and Marseilles, and also for LR in mid-sized cities.
Both the historic level of abstention, and the rise of the RN in recent years, have been paved by the attacks of Macronism. These attacks on the working-class and immigrants have most recently been exemplified by the budget rammed through the National Assembly in January, which significantly increases military spending while cutting social services. They have been made possible by the lack of an uncompromising working-class force organizing in the streets and workplaces for an alternative to the austerity and militarism of Macronism, breaking the deadlock in the National Assembly.
The rise of the far-right around the RN and ‘Reconquête’ does pose a serious threat. The French far-right proposes a Trump-style authoritarian, deeply racist vision: ramped up police violence, the racist targeting of immigrants, attacks on workers’ and LGBTQ rights, and the privatization and cuts to public services. These elections saw the RN strengthen its position in its strongholds in the North and the Southeast, for example winning re-election to the mayorship of Perpignan, but it was effectively blocked from taking power in the largest cities. The phenomenon of tactical voting seems to have resulted in, for example, the RN’s defeat in Toulon to the traditional right. However, the victory of Éric Ciotti in Nice, a former president of LR who left the party in favor of becoming closer to the RN may spell a deepening of the trend of rapprochement between the traditional right-wing and the far-right.
Establishment Moves to Isolate the Left
Meanwhile, LFI ran the most candidates it ever had for local office, gained significant percentages of the vote in the first round in many places, and won mayorships in Roubaix, Saint-Denis, and in the working-class outskirts of Lyon. This comes in the context of the party’s targeting and vilification by the establishment. In an effort to discredit it, LFI was categorized as “extrême gauche” (far-left) in early February 2026 by the Minister of the Interior. This was followed shortly thereafter by the offensive against LFI and the far-left by the ensemble of the capitalist parties and media which came in the wake of the death of far-right thug Quentin Deranque in Lyon. Demonized more than ever, LFI was excluded from broad left alliances of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF), PS and Les Écologistes in a number of places including in Paris and Marseille.
Macron and the capitalist parties and media have been angling to discredit LFI and the left-wing ideas which could pose a real alternative to the inflation, austerity, nationalism, and militarism on offer from the establishment parties. The far-right is, in contrast, preferred by the French capitalist class, although it has not, at this stage, rallied behind Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen’s party the way American Capital did behind Trump leading up to the 2024 presidential elections. On the global scale, the ruling classes have been leaning on far right ideas to reinforce nationalism, the nuclear family and gender roles in this period of crisis, instability and inter-imperialist war. These ideas serve as an effective means to discipline the working class and oppressed, particularly in the wake of the mass upheaval of the 2010s around the world.
This occurs in the context of significant sections of the PS moving towards rupture with LFI, particularly with the 2027 presidential elections in mind. A common media narrative has been that the PS strategy of not allying with LFI is what brought them to victory for example in Paris, Lille and Rennes, because LFI is too radical and too divisive. But this is misleading – despite the vilification of LFI, they were able to make gains.
Indeed, the 2024 National Assembly elections demonstrate the opposite of this media narrative. It was, in fact, the PS allying with LFI around a program of concrete reforms put forward by LFI as part of the Nouveau Front Populaire electoral coalition which kept the far-right from power, and it was LFI’s association with the discredited PS which rehabilitated the latter in many ways. What comes to the fore is that the Parti Socialiste is an unreliable ally for genuine left forces.
Whereas forming electoral coalitions is not a tactic to dismiss out of hand, lesser evilism is not a sustainable strategy for pushing back the rise of the far-right. Bringing to a halt the rise of the right will take building a mass, internally-democratic working-class party that unites the disparate struggles of our diverse class. This should include, strikes, walkouts and protests against any attacks by RN where it is in power. Xenophobia, racism, misogyny and LGBTQphobia must be fought with solidarity. Imperialist war and militarism, counterposed to working-class internationalism. A mass, working-class struggle that takes on the large corporations and the banks is the only path to victory.
