French elect mayors in key cities including Paris

Most of the country’s 35,000 villages, towns and boroughs elected their leaders in a first round last weekend, but the races went to run-offs in about 1,500 communes, including bigger urban centres.The local ballots are being closely watched to gauge the mood on the ground and potential party alliances before the election of a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron next year, with the far right scenting its best chance yet at seizing power.

Polls opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) on the French mainland, AFP journalists at stations across the country saw, with results expected to start trickling in some 12 hours later.

“A little over a year before the presidential election, the final results of this local ballot will provide valuable insight into the mood of the French public,” Le Monde newspaper wrote in an editorial on Friday.

In Paris, the race is looking tight between leftist Emmanuel Gregoire, a former deputy of outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, and his…