Version imprimableWhilst the Macron camp has suffered an electoral beating, the results in many towns and cities reveal the entrenchment and dangerous rise of the Marine Le Pen’s RN (National Rally) and the far right. In dozens of towns and cities, the National Rally’s slates are in the lead. In Perpignan, Louis Aliot has been re-elected in the first round, as have the RN mayors of Hénin-Beaumont, Hayange and Fréjus.
The far right intends to use these municipal elections as a springboard to gain power and strengthen its strategy of uniting the right. Bardella is calling tonight for a merger with the “genuine right-wing lists”. He even goes so far as to propose that the RN withdraw where these lists are in the lead.
But this advance is not inevitable. Where the right and the far right can win or retain municipalities, such as in Paris, Marseille, Angers or Toulon it is the responsibility of the left-wing lists that have come out on top to create the conditions for unity. The NPA-A calls for a rallying of the left, as with the NFP (New Popular Front) in June 2024. The political, trade union and community-based left must attempt to organise street mobilisations and initiatives between the two rounds and mobilise working-class neighbourhoods, young people and workers. Not a single vote must be wasted against the far right!
All the more so as the radical left can win people over: La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, led by Melenchon) got strong results despite having been the target of an unprecedented media onslaught for several weeks. It even won in Saint-Denis, a north Parisian suburb, in the first round with the list led by Bally Bagayoko.
In many towns, the NPA-A chose to unite with LFI or other left-wing groups around an ambitious social, ecological and democratic programme. We scored some strong results, such as in Alençon where the Gauche Unie (United Left) list secured 15.2% of the vote, in Toulouse where the list led by François Piquemal won over 25%, and in Gérardmer where our comrades secured 19.5%!
The LFI is proposing an anti-fascist electoral front for this second round but the sectarianism of the PS (Socialist Party) and Place Publique (Town Square – led by centre left Raphael Glucksman) is driving the entire left into a dead end. By refusing unity on the left at a national level, the PS is playing into the hands of the National Rally and the right. In the current situation, we cannot take the risk of leaving winnable towns in the hands of the right. There are direct consequences for their residents. But also because every area counts when it comes to organising resistance.
From the 23 March onwards, political organisations, trade unions, associations and collectives will have to come together to lead the fight against the racist, violent ideas and policies of the far right and their allies.
This means:
*rebuilding concrete solidarity in working-class neighbourhoods, places, workplaces and educational institutions ;
*strengthening social mobilisations;
*securing victories on the ground against the government and employers;
*and waging the political battle against reactionary ideas.
Let us build a militant response everywhere we can.
No Pasaran!
Montreuil, 15 March 2026
Translated by Anti*Capitalist Resistance->https://anticapitalistresistance.org/french-local-elections/ from l’Anticapitaliste.
