Three months before the municipal elections, the race already seems over in Béziers. According to a poll conducted in mid-December by Ifop and revealed by the Journal du Dimanche, Robert Ménard He literally crushes the competition. The incumbent mayor is credited with 60 to 67% of the vote in the first round, regardless of the scenarios tested. This abysmal lead transforms the upcoming campaign into an electoral formality rather than a genuine political confrontation.
The most striking figure remains this: even with an official National Rally list, Ménard would still garner over 60%. As for the other candidates for mayor of Béziers, two or three lists, left-wing or supposedly "apolitical," are reduced to dividing up the remaining votes… The National Rally candidate would, at best, reach around 12%. A clear rebuke for the party apparatus run by Jordan BardellaAnd it's a show of strength for a mayor who has transformed his city and whose electorate now extends far beyond party lines. In Béziers, a significant portion of National Rally voters seem to prefer their mayor's effectiveness and outspokenness to party discipline.
This paradox is all the more striking given that Robert Ménard was one of the few political figures, outside of the National Rally and its allies, to explicitly call for a vote for Marine Le Pen During the last presidential election, he won in both rounds. But his assertive independence, his refusal of any national oversight, and his unfiltered speech continue to earn him the hostility of a National Rally leadership reluctant to tolerate free agents. A power struggle that the voters of Béziers, for their part, seem to have resolved without hesitation.
The momentum is further strengthened by the official support of Les Républicains, confirmed for the 2026 municipal elections. This endorsement was publicly welcomed by the party president. Bruno Retailleauwho praised the record and stature of an "extraordinary mayor". In Béziers, this de facto alliance between LR and RN elected officials within the municipal majority is already functioning, and Ménard does not hesitate to remind everyone that he is practicing locally this "union of the right" that many invoke without ever achieving.
Finally, this local dominance is part of a broader trend. Robert Ménard now ranks among the top political figures favored by the French in national polls, a rare achievement for an elected official who has never held national office. His outspokenness, assertive authority, concrete record, and open defiance of Parisian directives make him a figure whose appeal extends far beyond the Hérault region. In Béziers, the upcoming March election is shaping up to be less of an election and more of a plebiscite.
