Will the campaign for the 2026 municipal elections in Marseille involve an alliance between LFI and Printemps marseillais? Two years before the elections, the agreement is not yet present.
The deadline is in two years but the political maneuvers are already beginning. In Marseille, the idea of a left-wing rally for the next municipal elections is increasingly being put on the table.
During the EELV summer universities, at the end of August in Tours, the first deputy Michèle Rubirola called for working with La France insoumise. “They are well established, we have to deal with them,” she assured, as reported by the JDD. An opinion shared by Sébastien Barles, deputy mayor in charge of the ecological transition.
“Bringing abstainers back to the polls is an essential issue in Marseille, where citizenship has been damaged for decades, where citizens from working-class neighborhoods have been victims of cronyism without anything changing in their daily lives,” he explained to BFM Marseille Provence.
“They (LFI, Editor’s note) give hope and that is a lever that was essential, that is why we must build a project with them.”
Disagreements persist
The idea would therefore be to integrate LFI into the Marseille Spring, for a new popular front with a view to the 2026 municipal elections. During the legislative elections, the Insoumis came out on top with Sébastien Delogu (59.67%) in the 14th and 15th arrondissements, a strategic sector which would gather the most councillors in the municipal elections.
But points of disagreement persist, as the MP for the 7th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône explained to BFM Marseille Provence.
“We must be certain of one thing: Benoît Payan is a brake on this alliance since he was against it as soon as the NFP was announced. He is someone who does politics for himself and not for a political programme,” assures Sébastien Delogu.
On June 13, the mayor of Marseille had nevertheless welcomed the agreement reached for the legislative elections. “In this decisive moment, faced with social, ecological and democratic challenges, this gathering is our duty,” he wrote on X.
“Let’s not rush things”
On the left, the union is not yet a done deal. For some, it is even too early to start talking about the 2026 deadline. “We are still almost two years away from the municipal elections. Two years is a long time, it requires continuing the action of the majority in place at the city level”, for Jérémy Bacchi, PCF senator for Bouches-du-Rhône, guest on BFM Marseille Provence this Wednesday.
“Let’s not rush things. For the Marseille Spring, the urgent thing is to continue its action for the city. And as for the rest, I believe that showing potential signs of fracture when we are united nationally would be likely to weaken the entire left. It is urgent to wait to talk about strategy and municipal elections,” he adds.
For their part, the leading figures of the right met on Friday August 30, notably Martine Vassal and Renaud Muselier for the summer university of the right and the center, with the watchword of unity.
Francesco Carvelli, with Marine Langlois
