French Election Runoffs Show Far Right Still Has Work to Do

The leaders of the far-right National Rally have said 2027 will be the year they finally win France’s presidential election. But in Sunday’s municipal runoffs, the party struggled in several cities to turn strong initial results into victories.

The National Rally’s Marine Le Pen said after the votes in 35,000 municipalities across the nation that she was “disappointed” in the result in some cities. Her party fell short in its bid to take control of Marseille, Toulon and Nimes, showing that it still has work to do to bring in new voters when the candidate field narrows in the country’s two-round system.