France votes Sunday in municipal elections that will provide an early snapshot of support for Marine Le Pen¡¯s National Rally ahead of the 2027 presidential race, in which it tops polls.

Voters in nearly 35,000 municipalities will choose mayors and councilors in a two-round ballot that typically turns on local issues and personalities rather than national party platforms. In smaller towns, candidates often run without formal party affiliations.

This year¡¯s ballot carries heightened national importance ¡ª offering insight into which issues resonate with voters and could shape momentum heading into 2027.

First-round results Sunday evening will likely settle most races but leave the outcome uncertain in larger cities until after the second round. If a candidate nets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, they win outright. Those who obtain more than 10% of the vote advance to the second round, which can produce three¡ª or four¡ª or even five-way runoffs and make outcomes hard to predict.

The real action unfolds in the 48 hours after, as parties have until Tuesday evening to make decisions on staying in the race, forming alliances or dropping out.

Polling stations open at 8 a.m. across France on March 15 and close between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., depending on the city. In many medium and large municipalities, a second round will be held on March 22.

Despite performing well in national elections in recent years, the National Rally has little foothold in local executive offices, which remain dominated by the Socialists and the center-right Republicans.

Signaling its ambitions, Le Pen¡¯s group says it is fielding more than 700 candidate lists with allies ¡ª nearly double its total in the 2020 municipal elections, according to the party. A Bloomberg analysis shows the number of places with a population of more than 3,500 where the far right and its allies are running is closer to 550, compared with around 390 in 2020.

The results will signal how alliances are forming in a fragmented political landscape ¡ª and whether the National Rally can overcome the so-called Republican Front, the informal cross-party coalition that has historically blocked the far right from power but has frayed in recent years.

A strong showing would help the far right build the grassroots infrastructure it needs for 2027. ¡°To build its electoral stock, the National Rally still needs a political and media dynamic behind its march to power,¡± said Eddy Vautrin-Dumaine, research director at Verian. ¡°One way to do that is by relying on local officials ¡ª mayors and councilors ¡ª who can mobilize voters on the ground in national elections.¡±

The municipal votes are also crucial for the National Rally as they largely determine...