The Nancy municipal elections, set for March 15 and 22, promise to be more open than in 2020. Outgoing socialist mayor Mathieu Klein, leading a union list without La France insoumise, will face his predecessor Laurent Hénart, backed by Les Républicains, MoDem, and Renaissance.
In Nancy, the March 15 and 22 municipal elections could signal a shift. Mathieu Klein, the outgoing socialist mayor and president of the Grand Nancy Metropolis with 258,000 residents, is seeking re-election. Six years ago, his win over Laurent Hénart, then president of the Radical Party, ended 74 years of right-wing and centrist governance.
Klein's renewed transpartisan list includes a citizen collective but excludes La France insoumise in the first round due to political differences. Notably absent is ecologist Laurent Watrin, who backed Klein in the 2020 runoff to secure victory. Excluded by his party Les Écologistes, Watrin, a former France Bleu Nancy journalist now working as a sophrologist, will head an independent citizen list.
"I heard that people said I didn't have full support and that I was a bit stiff," Watrin shares.
Klein is banking on the momentum from the 2024 legislative elections, where the left captured all seats in the Nancy agglomeration. Hénart, Klein's predecessor, has support from Les Républicains, MoDem, and Renaissance, setting up a tight race for city control.
