French far-right party holds its biggest city in first-round local elections

French far-right party holds its biggest city in first-round local elections National Rally leader urges voters to back party’s ‘common sense’ campaign in final round as it eyes taking another city Jordan Bardella , the head of France’s far-right the National Rally and a potential candidate in next year’s presidential race, has called on voters to back what he called his party’s “common sense and order” campaign in the final round of municipal elections next week. As the first-round municipal election results trickled in on Sunday night, the anti-immigration RN held on to the biggest city it runs: Perpignan . Louis Aliot was re-elected in the first round as mayor of the city, which has a population of 121,000 and is close to the Spanish border. The RN is now hoping it could also take another city, for example the southern coastal city of Toulon, which will go to a second-round runoff. But any success in Toulon will depend on whether other parties join to block the RN. The party of the radical-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, La France Insoumise , is also seeking to gain a foothold at a local level before Mélenchon is expected to make a fourth bid to be French president next year. The party, which is seeking to increase its local councillors, had strong results in the north of France in Lille and Roubaix, which will now go to second-round runoffs. Manuel Bompard, the LFI national coordinator, said the party was willing to create an “anti-fascist front” with other left parties to stop the RN making gains. The French municipal elections are seen as a crucial test of the political temperature before next year’s presidential election. The vote for mayors and councillors in 35,000 villages, towns and cities across France is focused on local issues including security, housing and refuse collection, and is very different from national elections. But the two-round vote held on consecutive Sundays – particularly the ballot in large towns and cities – will be scrutinised for what it c...