In major French cities, voters turned to Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Marine Le Pen provides the minimum service, often third. The others are struggling to reach 10%, even in green towns for Yannick Jadot.
It’s a real Macron/Mélenchon duo that has settled in the big cities. Everywhere in France, the other candidates were far behind. Of the 30 largest cities in France, 15 put Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 1st position, 14 put Emmanuel Macron first and 1 for Marine Le Pen. Where and how did the two candidates manage to position themselves in front of their opponents?
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The useful vote has played out
Emmanuel Macron has siphoned off the right-wing electorate considerably. Candidate LR Valérie Pécresse is only present twice in the top 5. It is 5th in Paris (6.6%) and 4th in Boulogne-Billancourt (10.5%). In cities run by right-wing town halls, Emmanuel Macron is in the lead. This is the case in Angers, Nice, Aix-en-Provence or even Limoges. For the city of the Côte d’Azur, we find a duo Macron / Le Pen. In 29 of the 30 cities, Emmanuel Macron is systematically first or second. An urban vote on which the outgoing president could already rest in 2017.
But the change is on the left. Jean-Luc Mélenchon knew how to mobilize around him in the big cities. A performance that can be explained by its presidency which has increased in recent weeks but also by the useful vote. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has also been able to seduce with his ecological program. Several organizations including the Giec had placed his project as the best for ecology, ahead of that of environmental candidate Yannick Jadot. An argument that seduced in the cities that elected an environmental mayor in 2020. In Strasbourg, the rebellious is in the lead with 35.5%. In Grenoble, he is also ahead with 38.4% of the vote.
Same performance in left-wing cities: Jean-Luc Mélenchon is in the lead in Marseille (31.1%), Lille (40.5%), Toulouse (37%), Nantes (33.1%) and Rennes (36, 3%). The rebellious candidate even allows himself some intrusions into right-wing cities, taking advantage of the dispersion of voters between Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. Jean-Luc Mélenchon is even in the lead in Nîmes (28.7%), a right-wing city. The only downside in Toulon, a land of hard right, where the candidate is behind Marine Le Pen (25.3%) and Emmanuel Macron (24.2%), with only (19.6%) of the votes.
The other candidates do not appeal
Marine Le Pen may have regrets. If the candidate is in the lead in a majority of municipalities in rural areas, the big cities have once again shunned her. In Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux, it does not even pass the 10% mark. Apart from Toulon, the former president of the RN is not in the lead in any of the 30 cities of France.
Yannick Jadot will not have gathered the environmental vote. After having long sought to convince that the green dynamic at the 2019 European and 2020 municipal elections was going to blow in its sails, the EELV representative was unable to embody and represent presidential issues.
Same fate for Eric Zemmour. Outside Paris where he comes 3rd with 8.2% ahead of Marine Le Pen, the former polemicist is well ahead of him. Its best scores are in right-wing cities, in Nice (14.2%), Toulon (13.7%), Boulogne (10.7%) and Aix-en-Provence (10.3%).