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Paris, a Capital in “Resistance”?

Barring a few big-ticket victories in this month’s local elections, the French left is more divided than ever—one year from a pivotal fight for the presidency

In the end, it wasn’t even close. Emmanuel Grégoire, the Parti Socialite’s candidate for mayor of Paris, was elected with just over 50 percent of the vote in a run-off on Sunday, belying fears that the French capital would fall to the right after 25 years of center-left rule. Grégoire’s win came despite a broad convergence of forces behind conservative contender Rachida Dati, who finished with 41.5 percent.

Just who will govern France after next year’s presidential elections remains an open question. Yet, in a country hurtling to the right, Grégoire pledged in his victory speech that the capital would serve as a node of “resistance.” The prospect of renewed left-wing rule, after 12 years under PS Mayor Anne Hidalgo, could also see more robust efforts to confront the capital’s simmering housing crisis, with Grégoire promising to invest in social housing and tighten regulations of short-term rentals, including a possible ban on Airbnb. But with all eyes on 2027, the incoming mayor boasted in his victory speech that “Paris is not and will never be a city of the extreme right.”

At the Grégoire watch party, the sense of relief was tangible—and could even be felt among members of the press corps gathered to cover Grégoire’s anticlimactic victory. (One campaign aide boasted to me that over 200 journalists had turned out, which is ultimately a symptom of political life in a city that gobbles up an inordinate share of the national spotlight.)

Come what may in 2027, at least in Paris there’ll always be a modicum of normalcy. Indeed, It would be harder to have imagined a clearer nod to the status quo than the incoming mayor’s well-choreographed departure from his watch party to address supporters gathered outside city hall. Grégoire made the short jaunt down the Canal Saint-Martin atop a Vélib’, and the popular bike-share service has become a symbol of center-left good governance.

The problem is that a city like Paris, with its brimming wealth and cultural confidence, is ultimately a poor reflection of the political mood in the wider country. A litmus test of the political situation before next year’s presidential contest, this month’s local elections provide a snapshot of country facing unprecedented levels of political polarization, as the far right stubbornly continues to make inroads.

Yes, France’s largest cities remain strongholds for the left. Progressive coalitions are........

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