PARIS — A Socialist candidate was leading in Paris while the right wing looked strong in several southern cities as projections arrived from first-round local elections on Sunday, seen as a political barometer ahead of France's presidential polls.

According to initial results, a centrist touted as a strong contender for the 2027 presidential race, Edouard Philippe, was well-placed to remain mayor in the northern city of Le Havre in a second-round local election in a week's time.

The former prime minister, seen as one of the best candidates to take on the far-right National Rally, or RN, party in next year's presidential contest, had made his reelection in the port city a prerequisite for his 2027 campaign.

Analysts see the local races as an early indicator of key trends and patterns of tactical voting ahead of the presidential showdown.

The RN views next year's contest as its strongest chance yet to take power, with centrist President Emmanuel Macron stepping down after the maximum two terms in office.

The elections in around 35,000 villages, towns and city boroughs are held over two rounds on consecutive Sundays.

In more than 90 percent of communes, the mayor was expected to be elected in the first round.

But races in many bigger cities will go into a second round, with politicians on Sunday evening already moving to form cross-party alliances against their key opponents.

In Paris, Socialist candidate Emmanuel Gregoire was in the lead ahead of former culture minister Rachida Dati, projections from two pollsters indicated.

Right-wing Dati is hoping to wrest control of the city from the left, which has run the French capital for the last quarter-century.

'An opportunity'

The RN sees the local elections as an opportunity to show it can govern at the local level.

The far-right mayor of Perpignan was reelected with 50.61 percent of the vote, according to official results. The city, with some 100,000 inhabitants, is the largest city so far under the control of the anti-immigration party.

In France's second-largest city of more than 800,000, Marseille, an incumbent left-wing mayor was neck and neck with a far-right candidate.

Historically, France's major cities have been governed either by center-left parties or the right-wing Republicans. By contrast, the RN, far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon's party and Macron's centrists have struggled to establish a strong local footprint.

In the northern town of Roubaix, a hard-left candidate had a strong lead with 45 percent of the vote.

If he were to win in the second round, the town of some 98,000 people would become the largest city run by Melenchon's party.

Pollsters said turnout on Sunday was the country's lowest, other than the last local polls in 2020 held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agencies via Xinhua