Saint-Denis is just over 9km from the centre of Paris but is in the poorest department in all of metropolitan France, a region marked by unemployment, low incomes and social disadvantage. But Saint Denis’s town hall was the backdrop to memorably joyous celebrations on the evening of 15 March. A delirious crowd carried the new mayor shoulder high, chanting his name over and over. Bally Bagayoko who led a leftwing list uniting the radical left party, La France Insoumise (LFI), and the Communist party pulled off a remarkable feat, decisively winning the second biggest city in the Paris (Île-de-France) region in the first of two rounds. He was the only French mayoral candidate representing a population of more than 150,000 not to require a runoff contest.

For the first time, Saint-Denis, which is home to 130 nationalities, has a mayor who reflects its community – a child of the city and the son of Malian immigrants.

Bagayoko is not alone. Other municipalities on the outskirts of Paris – where a large share of the population is descended from postcolonial migrants – have also joyfully elected mayors of colour for the first time. In Seine-Saint-Denis, emblematic of the banlieues 13 mayors of colour out of 39 were elected under various political labels.

At a time when, nationally, the far right controls more towns and cities than ever before, the emergence of a new generation of politicians of colour should be hailed as a sign of a healthy democracy. Instead it seems to have resonated like a political earthquake in a France that still seems unable to make room for its citizens of colour.

And so the celebrations in Saint-Denis were short-lived. It did not take long for the unusual nature of this election to trigger a........

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