French far right fails to win in major cities in boost to mainstream rivals

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) failed to win control of any major city in Sunday’s nationwide municipal election, a setback that gave hope to embattled mainstream parties ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Marine Le Pen’s nationalist eurosceptic party lost out in big target cities including Marseille and Toulon, although an ally, Eric Ciotti, who heads his own staunchly conservative UDR party, won in Nice, France’s fifth-largest city.

The municipal votes were...