The participation in the first round of municipal elections in France has stood at 19.37% at midday, barely one point above the 18.38% registered at the same time in the 2020 elections, which were marked by the pandemic of Covid-19, according to data published by the Ministry of the Interior.
The level of mobilization continues, however, below the records of previous calls. In 2014, participation reached 23.16% at midday, a figure similar to that of 2008, when it stood at around 23%.
Uncertainty about the final participation
Turnout remains one of the big unknowns of this election day. Although it is expected that at the close of the polling stations the final percentage will be higher than that of 2020, it remains to be seen if the downward trend recorded in these elections over the last decades can be stopped.
Participation in the French municipal elections has progressively fallen, going from the 78.4% registered in 1983 to 63.6% in 2014, according to official data.
Polling stations will remain open until 6:00 PM, 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM, depending on the size of the municipalities. In large cities, it will be when the polls close late in the afternoon and begin to be published the first results of the count.
About 49 million electors called to vote
In total, 48.7 million citizens are called to the polls in these elections, among them some 358,000 citizens from other European Union countries with the right to vote in the local elections.
The polls have already closed in New Caledonia, where voting takes place earlier due to the time difference.
Around 93% of the municipalities, where only one or two lists compete, will know their mayor today. However, the result will be much more uncertain in the large cities, which anticipates an intense negotiation of alliances between the first and second round, scheduled for next Sunday.
A political barometer before the presidential
The municipal elections are also held one year before the presidential elections, which turns this electoral event into an important political barometer for the parties and possible candidates for the Élysée. The current president, Emmanuel Macron, will not be able to run again after having exhausted the two permitted terms.
To avoid a national reading of the results, which could harm its party Renaissance, with scarce municipal presence, the Government has opted to maintain a low profile during the campaign.
The Macronist formation hopes to retain some mayoralties like Nevers, Coulommiers or Senlis, while in other cities it backs candidates from its government partners, among them MoDem, Horizons or the traditional right of The Republicans (LR).
Tensions on the left and expectations of the far right
The debate on alliances is particularly complex in the left bloc, where the tensions between the Socialist Party and La France Insoumise (LFI) have marked the campaign. Both formations have reached agreements in about sixty cities and could join forces in the second round to try to snatch mayoralties from the right in municipalities such as Toulouse, Limoges or Avignon.
The far right also faces these elections with high expectations, with the aim of displacing the traditional right in some territories or breaking the so-called sanitary cordon and opening the door to future alliances ahead of the presidential elections of 2027.
The great battles in the main cities
The main electoral unknowns are concentrated in Paris, Marseille and Lyon, where the result will largely depend on the arithmetic of the second round.
In Paris, the options of the socialist Emmanuel Grégoire and of the conservative Rachida Dati could be conditioned by the result of other candidates who aspire to exceed the 10% necessary to pass to the second round, such as Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons), Sophia Chikirou (LFI) or Sarah Knafo (Reconquest).
A similar scenario arises in Marseille, where the current mayor Benoît Payan, of the independent left, competes with the candidate of National Rally, Franck Allisio, both distanced in the polls from Martine Vassal (LR) and Sébastien Delogu (LFI).
For their part, the environmentalists, who were the big winners of the municipal elections of 2020, hope to retain strongholds like Strasbourg and Bordeaux and are confident of a possible comeback in Lyon, where the current mayor Grégory Doucet faces the former president of Olympique de Lyon, Jean-Michel Aulas.