Paris (France), Mar. 15 (LaPresse) – Voters are going to the polls today for the first round of municipal elections, called to choose local administrations across France, from small villages to the largest cities. This serves as a testing ground for party electoral machinery ahead of next year’s presidential elections, which will select the successor to President Emmanuel Macron. Attention is particularly focused on the major cities, including Paris. The incumbent Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2020, has decided not to run for a third term, after leading the French capital through the trauma of the 2015 extremist attacks and the euphoria of the 2024 Paris Olympics. In Marseille, France’s second-largest city, polls indicate a close race between the incumbent left-wing mayor Benoît Payan and the far-right Rassemblement National candidate Franck Allisio. More than 904,000 candidates for municipal offices in around 35,000 villages, towns, and cities are running. In areas where the outcome remains uncertain, the second round of voting will determine the final results.
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