in Nantes, the right and the center join forces to recover the city led by the left since 1989

Like their Bordeaux counterparts, Nantes elected officials from the right and the center want to unite for the 2026 municipal elections. “We have decided to come together so that Nantes changes course!” indicate Laurence Garnier, president of Mieux Vivre in Nantes, and Valérie Oppelt, president of the elected Democrats and Progressives in a manifesto published this Monday. Senator LR and former MP LREM, both opposition municipal councilors, want to take the opposite view in the face of “degrowth, lax security, waste of public money and the ZADification of our city”.

In recent months, the two political forces, which left separately in 2020, have come together on more and more issues. Their rapprochement comes in particular from the political evolution of Johanna Rolland, PS councilor allied with environmentalists: “A rather moderate left-wing mayor of Nantes in a previous mandate, who is rushing into the hands of the far left »summarizes Laurence Garnier to the Figaro. His new ally also uses the same terms, speaking of“an extreme left which is starting to be powerful locally”.

No head of list yet

Despite this common point, this gathering which extends from the Republican right to the center left brings together elected officials with sometimes very different convictions, particularly on social subjects such as assisted reproduction or abortion. “We do not agree on all subjects on a national scale, but we are talking about a common vision for the people of Nantes”wants to reassure Valérie Oppelt, believing that it is possible to get over it locally. “Nothing is completely sealed at this stage”she continues, implying that now is not the time to designate a head of the list.

Laurence Garnier, who ran in 2020, did not make an announcement to this effect. Behind the scenes, it is rather the name of Julien Bainvel, opposition municipal councilor, ex-LR since the Ciotti affair, which is circulating. “We have to take it step by step”exposes the person concerned to Figaro. Without denying the rumors concerning him, he has nothing to announce. Now that the call to rally has been made, “we will continue with the idea of ​​being able to announce who will be the leader, but for the moment, that is not the timetable”.

Meeting Monday evening

The name of Sarah El Haïry, MoDem municipal councillor, former Minister for Children, who has never hidden her ambitions, is less topical. One of his close friends assures that his ambitions would still be intact but his priorities elsewhere. Conversely, others point out that since his electoral setback in the 2024 legislative elections, his absence has been felt.

Proof of this is, according to an observer, when all the protagonists of the right and the center were to be received this Monday evening by Christelle Morançais (Horizons), president of the Pays de la Loire region, to talk about municipal matters, the former secretary State had planned to participate… by video. However, this meeting remains significant. Everyone is invited, in particular… Foulques Chombart de Lauwe, opposition municipal councilor whose relations with his group Mieux Vivre à Nantes have deteriorated. Since he declared himself a candidate in October 2023, many of his former colleagues have criticized him for going solo. He was therefore not invited to sign the column. “If he wishes to participate in this gathering, it is up to him to express it to us”explains Valérie Oppelt, one of the two signatories.

“Incomplete Union”

“The signatories of this forum (which I discovered) have long ago provoked a meeting this (Monday) evening. I will not comment until it is held. This is my conception of dialogue”says Foulques Chombart de Lauwe, usually more talkative. “And yes, to win we will have to be united. I always said it”concludes the right-wing elected official who pleads for the most recognized candidate to be invested. For more than a year, he has worked hard to make his program known, organizing markets, supporting residents of neighborhoods undermined by drug trafficking, or even more recently by disrupting the wishes of Johanna Rolland.

“When we talk about union and coming together, it must be complete. So I don’t understand why they proposed an incomplete union”asks Guillaume Richard, right-wing municipal councilor, about the platform. He wants to apply Édouard Philippe's method locally with his microparty Nao. “Horizons is waiting for a much broader proposal. We will join this union when it is complete”he said, while welcoming the principle of union, which only needs to be expanded.

“Egos must not take precedence over this collective work that we are building”warns Laurence Garnier, the leader of the Nantes right, in the face of these two other blocs trying to move differently the lines of a right which lost the city of Nantes 36 years ago, without managing to reconquer it since .