The prime example is the northern city of Lille, where the France Unbowed candidate was by one projection in a tie with the incumbent center-left mayor. France Unbowed is also on track to come in first in Roubaix, a populous, working-class city on Lille’s outskirts.
The party’s prospects in this contest were very much in question after a controversy surrounding the death of a far-right activist last month. But France Unbowed’s strategy of focusing on young voters and working-class urban populations, often of immigrant descent, is delivering despite repeated controversies, particularly accusations of antisemitism against Mélenchon.
“This election confirms that there is a strong France Unbowed constituency in big cities,” said Jean-Yves Dormagen, a political scientist and head of polling institute Cluster17.
Dormagen also highlighted the highly polarized and fragmented nature of France’s political landscape, confirmed by Sunday’s results. In many cities, up to four or five candidates qualified for the runoff, a situation that used to be an exception a few years ago.
Moderate left will have a few headaches
This fragmented political landscape is inflicting a series of splitting headaches on France’s ailing moderates, especially on the left, where infighting was already on display on election night.
The moderate left is torn over whether to make ad hoc alliances with the hard-left France Unbowed movement whose fiery leader has become highly toxic to centrist voters.
“We won’t overturn the far-right wave with Jean-Luc Mélenchon as our ball-and-chain,” social democrat figurehead Raphaël Glucksmann, who has long criticized Mélenchon’s outbursts and positioning, said Sunday.