First round of municipal elections in France, one year before the presidential election

Some 48.7 million voters are called to the polls in France on Sunday for the first round of municipal elections, a very uncertain vote and a test one year before the 2027 presidential election, especially for the far right which hopes to confirm its momentum.

The National Rally (RN) sees these local elections as a first step towards its possible accession to power in 2027 after two consecutive terms of Emmanuel Macron in a political landscape fragmented between three major blocs, left, centre-right and far right, with strong divisions within the left and the right.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right party and a three-time presidential candidate, could see her path blocked if her sentence of ineligibility for embezzlement is confirmed.

The polling stations opened at 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and will close no later than 20:00 (19:00 GMT), at which time the first results can be published.

The election, the second round of which will be held on March 22, aims to elect municipal councillors for six years in some 35,000 municipalities, who will then be called upon to designate their future mayor from among themselves.

Although the French remain attached to mayors, who are more popular than national elected officials, voter turnout could be hampered by the end of the campaign being overshadowed by the war in the Middle East.

According to polls, 75% of voters will vote based on the local situation, in this election which is less polarized than at the national level even if some priorities - the fight against drug trafficking, access to care or housing - are identical.

The government did everything to avoid a nationalization of the vote, with instructions to remain silent given to ministers, except for those who are candidates.

However, there is great uncertainty in large cities like Paris, where few mayors are certain to be re-elected.

- Battle for Paris -

The battle to win the Paris mayoralty, coveted by the conservative right (The Republicans, LR), who believe in the chances of their candidate, former Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, to wrest the capital from the Socialist Party, in power for 25 years, promises to be intense.

The far right intends to supplant the right in certain places or to break down a cordon sanitaire and draw it into an alliance, also with a view to 2027. Still not very established locally, the RN wants to take advantage of its national momentum to win cities.

He will present a record number of lists, at least 650 out of a total of some 35,000 municipalities. The jewel in the crown would be Marseille, France's second-largest city, where his candidate Franck Allisio is neck and neck with the left-wing coalition of Mayor Benoît Payan.

In Nice, on the French Riviera, tens of thousands of ballot papers for the first round of municipal elections were damaged by rain on Saturday morning and an emergency reprint was launched, the prefecture announced, assuring that the vote will take place normally on Sunday.