With the municipal elections approaching in March 2026, the National Rally is now adopting an offensive strategy. Its president, Jordan Bardella, claims to be aiming to win "several dozen municipalities" after the vote, as the party will be presenting an unprecedented number of lists across the country, exceeding 600 candidates.
This strategy is based on the party's claimed record from the previous municipal elections, marked by the first-round re-election of incumbent National Rally mayors in their historical strongholds, such as Hénin-Beaumont, Beaucaire, and Fréjus, and by the emblematic victory in Perpignan. The party hopes to transform this local momentum into a broader territorial foothold.
Marseille, a central objective of the National Rally
Beyond medium-sized towns, the National Rally (RN) is clearly demonstrating its ambitions in major cities. Marseille is identified as the party's primary target, with Jordan Bardella believing that his candidate, Franck Allisio, is capable of defeating the incumbent mayor, Benoît Payan. Opinion polls show the two men neck and neck, making the Phocaean city a major symbolic battleground for the far right.
By claiming a strategy of conquest rather than simple implantation, the RN seeks to confirm its local electoral weight, after a decline in the number of municipal councillors in 2020, and to transform its national scores into concrete victories on the municipal field.
