The Rassemblement National (RN, far right) member of the European Parliament and Paris mayoral candidate, Thierry Mariani, January 11, 2026. KIRAN RIDLEY/AFP
"The upside is, I can't do any worse than last time!" joked Thierry Mariani after being nominated the Rassemblement National's (RN, far right) candidate for Paris mayor. He did not do worse, but he did not do better either. With 1.61% of the vote, his result was as catastrophic as that of his predecessor in the previous municipal vote in 2020, Serge Federbusch – a name party members now utter only in hushed tones. Mariani was overshadowed by the energetic, high-profile campaign run by Sarah Knafo for Reconquête!, another far-right party. But this highlights the RN's ongoing struggle to gain a foothold in major urban areas, with the exception of the southeast of France.
The contrast is clear with the three Mediterranean cities where the party is capable of asserting itself: Nice, Marseille and Toulon, as well as Nîmes, further west. Of France's 42 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants – only one of which is led by the RN (Perpignan, where Mayor Louis Aliot was re-elected in the first round) – the party will be represented in 20 run-offs, to be held on March 22. That is a much better performance than in 2020, but not as good as in 2014. In most cases, the RN's results have declined compared to that year, even though the party appears much stronger at the national level today.
