Emmanuel Grégoire Wins Paris Mayoral Race as Socialists Hold Key Cities

Emmanuel Grégoire of the Socialist Party won the Paris mayoral election on March 22, 2026, defeating right-wing challenger Rachida Dati with approximately 53% of the vote to secure the French capital for the left. According to first estimates cited by ANSA, Grégoire took 53.1% against Dati's 38.1%, while a separate Ipsos-BVA-Cesi estimate for France Télévisions, Radio France and LCP-Public Sénat put his share at 50.5%. Grégoire, who had served as first deputy to outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo, crossed Paris by bicycle after the result was announced, followed by a growing procession of supporters toward the Hôtel de Ville. In Marseille, incumbent Benoît Payan was comfortably reelected, defeating the National Rally candidate Franck Allisio by nearly 15 points, denying the far right a foothold in France's second-largest city. The results confirmed the Socialist Party's hold on France's two largest urban centers, even as the party suffered notable losses elsewhere.

„Paris a décidé de rester fidèle à son histoire.” (Paris has decided to remain faithful to its history.) — Emmanuel Grégoire via ANSA

Paris has been governed by the left for 25 years, according to ANSA. Emmanuel Grégoire served as first deputy to Anne Hidalgo from 2018 to 2024, according to his Wikipedia entry. Besançon, the capital of the Franche-Comté region, had been governed by the left almost uninterruptedly for more than a century, with the exception of three years of Gaullism, according to 20minutes.

Dati concedes, citing "poison of division" in campaign Rachida Dati, who had resigned from her post as Minister of Culture to contest the Paris race, acknowledged defeat on election night. „I did not manage to convince enough people that change was not only possible, but above all necessary.” — Rachida Dati via ANSA Dati, whose vote share was estimated at between 36% and 38% across several polls, complained of "the poison of division" while also praising those who had called for votes in her favor in the second round. Her campaign had absorbed the support of Pierre-Yves Bournazel of the Horizons-Renaissance movement and Sarah Knafo of the far-right Reconquête! party, both of whom withdrew their lists after the first round. Grégoire, by contrast, rejected repeated alliance offers from La France Insoumise and ran a unified left list without the movement. Outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo, speaking in front of city hall with a glass of champagne, called the result "a great victory" and noted that commentators had long predicted Dati could not lose.

„For six years we were told that it was impossible for Ms. Dati to lose.” — Anne Hidalgo via ANSA

Left loses Besançon and other strongholds as LFI alliance backfires The Socialist Party's night was not uniformly positive, as the left lost several cities it had long held. In Besançon, Les Républicains candidate Ludovic Fagaut, a 47-year-old middle school principal, won with 53.1% of the vote against outgoing Green mayor Anne Vignot, who received 46.9%, according to an Ipsos-BVA-Cesi estimate. The city had been governed by the left almost without interruption for more than a century. Vignot's list had merged with the local LFI candidate between the two rounds, a strategy that, according to 20minutes, did not deliver victory. The Socialist Party also lost Brest and Clermont-Ferrand, according to Franceinfo, while the LFI-PS alliance in Toulouse was defeated by outgoing center-right mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, who won 53.87% to 46.13%. Socialist member of the European Parliament Pierre Jouvet was direct in his assessment on France 2 television, addressing LFI directly.

„You have weakened the left and you are opening a boulevard for the right.” — Pierre Jouvet via Franceinfo

Emmanuel Grégoire (PS, Paris): 53.1, Rachida Dati (LR, Paris): 38.1, Ludovic Fagaut (LR, Besançon): 53.1, Anne Vignot (Greens/LFI, Besançon): 46.9, Arnaud Deslandes (PS, Lille): 49.33, Jean-Luc Moudenc (center-right, Toulouse): 53.87

RN claims thousands of councillors despite big-city defeats Marine Le Pen declared an "immense victory" for the National Rally on election night, saying her party had won in "dozens of municipalities" in the second round and now held "thousands of municipal councillors" across France. The RN did, however, lose in Marseille, Toulon, and Nîmes — cities in the south where the party has traditionally performed strongly. LFI's number two, Manuel Bompard, also claimed his party had achieved a "breakthrough" that was "confirmed, expands and grows stronger," despite the movement's poor showing in cities where it allied with the Socialists. Voter turnout in Paris stood at approximately 57%, described by ANSA as historically low and higher only than the 2020 elections, which were held during the COVID-19 pandemic. In other major cities, the Socialist Party posted solid results: Nathalie Appéré was reelected in Rennes with 43.78% of the vote, Arnaud Deslandes won in Lille with 49.33%, and Johanna Rolland secured a third term in Nantes. The overall picture from the second round pointed to a left that held its largest urban strongholds by rejecting LFI alliances, while losing ground in smaller cities where such alliances were embraced.

15 (percentage points) — Payan's margin of victory over RN in Marseille