SOCIALIST Party candidate Emmanuel Gregoire has been elected mayor of Paris, beating the former right-wing minister Rachida Dati in Sunday’s second round of municipal elections.

It was a dismal day for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, (RN) which failed to take any of the cities it had targeted.

In Paris, Mr Gregoire, who ran on a united left ticket which included the Communist Party (PCF) and the Greens, won over 50 per cent against Ms Dati with 41 per cent and left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) candidate Sophia Chikirou with 8 per cent.

He said: “I’m thinking of the most fragile people, those who will sleep on the streets tonight. I’m thinking of children who are suffering … all the most vulnerable who need the left.”

The French communists won in Nimes, Echirolles, Vitry-sur-Seine, Malakoff and many other towns. This adds to the 250 communist mayors elected in last week’s first round.

PCF national secretary Fabien Roussel said: “The PCF remains the second strongest force on the left in terms of the number of elected officials, both men and women.”

LFI candidates scored significant wins in a handful of major suburbs of Paris, Lyon and Lille, but results were disappointing.

The RN won second-round runoffs in several French towns on Sunday but fell short in its key targets of Marseille Toulon and Nimes. The RN had led in the first round in both Toulon and Nimes; in the country’s second largest city, Marseille, it lost by a considerable
margin, despite its candidate polling neck and neck with the incumbent Socialist Mayor Benoit Payan last week.
 

The far-right did win the riviera city of Nice, but not with the RN. Veteran far-right politician Eric Ciotti, of the Union of the Right for the Republic, an ally of Ms Le Pen, beat the city’s right wing incumbent mayor Christian Estrosi.