Bally Bagayoko of La France insoumise was installed as mayor of Saint-Denis-Pierrefitte during a tense council meeting on March 21, 2026. Outgoing socialist mayor Mathieu Hanotin and his allies were booed by LFI supporters. The handover occurred in an electric atmosphere.
Saint-Denis, merged with Pierrefitte-sur-Seine in early 2025 and home to about 150,000 residents, is now the largest city led by La France insoumise. Bally Bagayoko, victorious in the first round of municipal elections on March 15, 2026, was cheered by supporters outside the town hall before his official installation at the March 21 council meeting. This Seine-Saint-Denis commune, a historic communist then socialist stronghold for six years under PS mayor Mathieu Hanotin (defeated with 32.7% of votes), fell to LFI in a first-round win dubbed “1 tour K.O.” by supporters' t-shirts featuring boxing gloves. The new mayor, born in Hauts-de-Seine to Malian parents, extended a hand to opponents: “If Mathieu Hanotin and his opposition are available, we extend our hand to them. But on the other hand, if it's a logic of ‘bordélisation,’ ultimately, of municipal management, we will not accept that,” he told journalists. In a speech met with boos and whistles, Hanotin condemned “racist attacks and insults” against Bagayoko since the campaign, including a social media controversy twisting his words on Saint-Denis as the “city of Blacks” instead of “city of kings.” “It's a scandal,” he said, adding the elected official “deserves respect.” He admitted underestimating residents' “need for direct proximity with their mayor.” Elsa Marcel of Révolution Permanente celebrated Hanotin's “defeat” and criticized a national minute of silence for Quentin Deranque, urging homage instead to “victims of police violence.” Bagayoko called some remarks “lunar,” sang La Marseillaise with a raised left fist, and received the tricolor sash from the council's eldest member, not his predecessor, symbolizing a rocky transition.
