France’s coolest city has been shaped by immigration, yet a win for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in local elections could be seismic – for the whole country
For many in Marseille, the far right in France’s second city will be for ever associated with the killing of Ibrahim Ali.
In 1995, the teenager was leaving a rap band rehearsal with friends when they crossed paths with three National Front militants who were putting up posters in support of the Front’s founder and then leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Ibrahim was shot in the back as he ran to catch his bus. Thirty-one years later, the National Front is now Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and polls suggest the party could take Marseille in forthcoming nationwide municipal elections. The first of two voting rounds is scheduled for 15 March.
The RN candidate, Franck Allisio, is tied in first place with the incumbent socialist mayor, Benoît Payan. For months, polling has shown that nearly one in three in this city of 880,000 inhabitants plan to cast their ballot for the National Rally, a figure 10 points higher than at the last local elections here in 2020. The prospect of a far-right mayor has gripped Marseillais since late last year. Whenever the local football team Olympique de Marseille have played a home game in recent months, fans have made their opposition to the far right clear in chants and banners.
