French voters cast votes Sunday to pick mayors and councillors in elections widely seen as a barometer of France's political mood ahead of the high-stakes 2027 presidential race.Mayors lead nearly 35,000 municipalities in the country, from major cities to villages with only a few dozen residents.Local results can shape national momentum, especially so close to a presidential election, which opinion polls show the far-right National Rally (RN) could potentially win.Voting started at 8am (0700 GMT) and ended at 8pm with preliminary results to be released shortly after. In many medium to large cities there will be a second round on March 22.By 5pm, voter turnout was less than 49%, up from the roughly 39% at the same stage in the last mayoral elections in 2020, which were held during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, but lower than the 55% turnout in 2014.Marine Le Pen's ascendant far-right party views next year's contest as its strongest chance yet to take power, with centrist President Emmanuel Macron constitutionally barred from running again.While nearly 90% of France's communes are small rural constituencies where local elections are traditionally depoliticised, the races could nonetheless reveal key trends and dynamics, said political scientist Nonna Mayer."In large towns, national issues will matter more, and they can give some hints on the electoral dynamic of the main parties," Mayer, who is affiliated with Sciences Po university and scientific research centre CNRS, told AFP.Who wins cities like Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nice will matter, she added.Clarisse Bremaud, a 26-year-old exhibition producer, was among the voters trickling in and out of a polling station in central Paris."For me it's important to take part in every election," she told AFP. "I feel it's even more crucial today with what's happening in France – particularly with the evolution of politics in France and the world."Historically, France's major cities have been governed either by centre-left parties or the right-wing Republicans.By contrast, Le Pen's far-right National Rally, the hard-left party of firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon and Macron's centrists have struggled to establish a strong local footprint.The National Rally (RN), which currently governs only one major city of more than 100,000 inhabitants, Perpignan, hopes to strengthen its local presence by capturing urban centres such as Toulon and Marseille, France's second largest city.At a polling station in Marseille, construction worker Serge said he was neither worried nor hopeful about the RN."They are not worse than the others. It won't change anything. Nothing changes, and that is the problem," said the 61-year-old, who declined to give his last name, adding that security is a priority for him in this election.A strong performance would mark an important milestone in the RN's longstanding effort to gain broader acceptance in the political mainstream.The anti-immigration party sees the elections as an opportunity to show it can govern at the local level."France's recovery begins this Sunday," RN chief Jordan Bardella, 30, told voters, urging them to turn out en masse.In one of the highest-profile contests, former prime minister Edouard Philippe is hoping to keep his seat as mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre, a role he has held since 2014.A loss by 55-year-old Phillipe, seen by some as the strongest candidate to take on Le Pen or Bardella, in the 2027 polls, will deplete his political capital.All eyes are also on the battle for Paris, where Rachida Dati, a combative former culture minister and one-time protégé of now convicted ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, hopes to wrest control of the city from the left, which has run the French capital for the last quarter-century.Dati goes neck-to-neck with left-wing candidate Emmanuel Gregoire, 48, and the loss of Paris would be a blow to the Socialist Party ahead of the presidential campaign."I had zero hesitation on who to pick," Anne Torregrossa, a 65-year-old civil servant, told AFP in Paris, adding her priorities included "the environment, civil liberties, and living together in harmony", though she declined to reveal her choice.Many mayoral candidates have distanced themselves from political parties, reflecting voters' exasperation with the elites and the paralysis that has gripped the country ever since Macron called snap elections in 2024."Turnout will tell us about the health of French democracy," said Mayer, the political scientist, pointing to "political distrust and disaffection".The week between the two rounds is expected to see political parties negotiating deals with rivals and joining forces against strong opponents."The pattern of tactical voting will offer a preview for next year," said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe director at risk analysis firm Eurasia Group.He said the election results would indicate whether a strategy to contain the far right was "dead or might still be revived".A second round of voting will be held in all cities where no single list wins more than 50% of the vote. 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