There was no clear winner in French local elections seen as an important harbinger of what to expect in next year’s presidential election that will select a replacement for the term-limited President Emmanuel Macron. 

Early analysis said the result made it more difficult to predict what could happen in the 2027 presidential vote.

The far-right National Rally made headway in smaller towns, and it claimed the result would give it the upper hand in next year’s vote. The traditional right, Les Républicains, held on to territory it controlled and even managed to pick up a few new seats, while Macron’s centrist Renaissance party gained control of two new mid-sized cities, Bordeaux and Annecy. 

Meanwhile, the left-of-center Socialist Party kept control of Paris and most of the biggest cities and the far-left France Unbowed made gains in working class suburbs. 

It was the first nationwide vote in France since the 2024 parliamentary vote saw the National Rally and a new leftwing alliance, New Popular Front, both gain power at the expense of Macron and his allies.