Far-right Reconquete! party mayoral candidate in Paris, Sarah Knafo addresses supporters following the results of the first round of France's 2026 municipal elections in Paris on March 15, 2026. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Sarah Knafo, the far-right candidate for Paris mayor who narrowly qualified for the election's second round, announced on Tuesday, March 17, that she was withdrawing her candidacy.
Knafo ranked fifth in the first round on Sunday, with 10.4% of the vote. She initially offered an alliance to conservative candidate Rachida Dati, who declined, opting instead to join forces with third-placed center-right candidate Pierre-Yves Bournazel.
Knafo has now called on her voters to back Dati to help beat Socialist candidate Emmanuel Grégoire, who led substantially in the first round.
"I have always said that I had one goal since I announced my candidacy: to defeat the left. So I am staying the course, I am keeping my word – the word I gave to my voters and my supporters: I am withdrawing to give us every chance to defeat the left," she said in an interview with Le Parisien, making it clear that she was not withdrawing "for Rachida Dati as a person" but "for Paris."
