One week before the first round of Paris municipals on March 15, Jean-Luc Mélenchon supported LFI candidate Sophia Chikirou at her final rally, targeting socialist rival Emmanuel Grégoire. Right-wing candidate Rachida Dati urges voters not to split their votes to enable change. Centrist Pierre-Yves Bournazel persists with his independent run amid tensions.
The Paris municipal elections, set for March 15 and 22, 2026, look tight according to an Elabe-Berger Levrault poll for Le Figaro, BFMTV, and La Tribune Dimanche. Emmanuel Grégoire, the united left candidate outside LFI, would get 33% in the first round, ahead of Rachida Dati at 29%, backed by Les Républicains, MoDem, and UDI. Pierre-Yves Bournazel of Horizons with Renaissance support, and La France insoumise's Sophia Chikirou round out the field, with outsiders potentially deciding the runoff.
On March 9, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon joined Sophia Chikirou at the Maison de la mutualité for her final rally before the vote. In a packed hall, the candidate decried the 'dirty tricks, slanders, threats, and assaults' endured during her controversy-plagued campaign. '90% and even more' of the attacks slide off her, she claimed, calling it 'resistance.' She targeted Emmanuel Grégoire and his party for 'perpetuating generalized chaos.'
For her part, Rachida Dati, in a Figaro interview, stresses the need for change after 25 years of left-wing governance. 'For the first time, a majority of Parisians want change. The right and center are the majority,' she says, urging 'electoral responsibility' to avoid splitting votes against a 'radical left that has already largely destroyed Paris.'
Pierre-Yves Bournazel, accused of dividing the right, holds firm. 'I'm not here to make us lose, I'm here to win,' he stated on Europe 1 and CNews. He plans to unveil ten measures on Tuesday against the périscolaire sexual violence scandal and positions himself as a 'third way' between Grégoire and Dati, despite a reported Russian-linked interference on X the previous week.
These dynamics highlight the stakes of a historic vote for the capital.
