The National Rally (RN) party, shut out of France’s largest metropolitan centres, is turning to a slow, methodical grassroots strategy to build power from the ground up.
Rather than prioritising immediate breakthroughs in major urban strongholds, the party is seeking to normalise its presence through local governance, while waiting for a broader national realignment to shift the political landscape in its favour.
Speaking to Brussels Signal today, RN campaign manager for the municipal elections, Julien Sanchez outlined a strategy of persistent local engagement, particularly in cities where the party failed to win representation, such as Rennes, Brest and Strasbourg.
“We will maintain a presence through leaflet distribution, door-to-door canvassing, and public meetings,” he said.
“We must keep explaining our positions consistently. Time will play in our favour. This is a strategy of conquest over the long run.”
The party points to RN member Louis Aliot in Perpignan as a model. Since joining the city council in 2014, Aliot and went on to win the mayoralty in 2020 before being re-elected in the first round in 2026.
RN leaders hope to replicate this blueprint in other contested cities, particularly Marseille, where hard-right candidate Franck Allisio fell short with 40.3 per cent against left-wing incumbent mayor Benoît Payan’s 54,3 per cent.
Following the 2026 municipal elections, RN de facto leader Marine Le Pen acknowledged yesterday the party’s continued structural weakness in major cities such as Paris and Marseille, as well as in highly urbanised areas.
Even regions such as the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (PACA), where the RN performs strongly, translating electoral support into municipal control, remains difficult.
In Toulon, for example, the party failed to secure victory despite being one of the dominant political forces locally.
Yet Sanchez framed the results in more optimistic terms: “Achieving 47 per cent in a town with more than 1,000 residents is exceptional.”
The RN official pointed to structural and sociological barriers that continue to limit the party’s appeal in large cities.
He blamed the defeat in Toulon to “other parties uniting” behind the incumbent to block the RN.
Urban centres are shaped by public-sector employment, globalisation and demographic change, which favours left-leaning candidates, he said.
“Many voters are public-sector employees, hospital workers, teachers, who are sometimes unreceptive to our message,” he added.
For the RN, these dynamics make certain urban areas structurally out of reach, at least in the short term.
RN leaders also highlight the difficulty of forming electoral alliances with the traditional Right.
Recalling his own experience as a candidate in Nîmes, Sanchez said conservative parties refused co-operation: “They preferred to leave the city to the Left and even the Communists rather than form an alliance with us.
“Our potential partners want our votes, but not our people in positions of responsibility.”
The RN’s ground-up approach mirrors the strategy of the left-wing movement led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his party La France Insoumise (LFI).
In urban strongholds where left-wing candidates dominate, Mélenchon’s movement has focused on mobilising non-voters in working-class neighbourhoods, treating abstention as a reservoir of potential support.
The RN believes left-wing governance in cities will fuel insecurity and accelerates middle-class flight to suburban areas, where the party has been making electoral gains.
“We may never win all major cities,” Sanchez said. “What matters is establishing a foothold— winning seats on municipal councils, presenting our solutions and building a platform.”
For the RN, representation in municipal councils is part of a broader effort to reshape its public image and counter what it sees as persistent mischaracterisations.
“There are many misconceptions about us, it’s up to us to do the work of correcting them,” Sanchez said.
By demonstrating administrative competence at the local level, RN party officials hope to reassure voters and broaden its appeal before the next presidential election in 2027.
