Strasbourg's incumbent Green Mayor, Jeanne Barseghian (C), Socialist candidate Catherine Trautmann (L), and Horizons (center-right) candidate Pierre Jakubowicz (R), in Strasbourg, on March 11, 2026. SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP
After the Socialists were disparaged by their opponents for forming local alliances with the radical left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party ahead of the second round of municipal elections, the last thing they needed was another controversy. Yet one broke out in Strasbourg, where Socialist mayoral candidate Catherine Trautmann, who led in the first round with 25.93% of the vote, announced that she had concluded an alliance with Pierre Jakubowicz, a center-right Horizons candidate who received 5.1% in the first round.
Trautmann, a former mayor of Strasbourg and ex-culture minister (from 1997-2000), joined forces with Jakubowicz to counter another alliance, the one forged between incumbent Green Mayor Jeanne Barseghian (who received 19.72% of the first-round vote) and LFI candidate Florian Kobryn (12.03%). In a statement, she explained that she wanted to "reject divisions, excesses and the brutalization of public life" – a barely-concealed reference to LFI. The Green-LFI alliance, self-described as "an anti-fascist coalition," was "in reality made against Catherine Trautmann," said Socialist MP Thierry Sother, one of Trautmann's running mates.
