Five months before the municipal elections, the Nice campaign is accelerating. Between tensions within the local right, calls for transparency, urban development projects and criticism over flood risk management, candidates are honing their arguments. On both the right and left, lines are shifting, and the battle for City Hall is opening up further.
The week was marked by an announcement from Éric Zemmour in the columns of Nice-Matin. The president of Reconquête! confirmed the presence of a slate in the Côte d’Azur capital: “The municipal elections will be held on March 15 and 22. The Reconquête! candidate in Nice is named Cédric Vella.” This candidacy adds to an already fragmented political landscape on the right.
Eric Zemmour took this opportunity to give his reading of the anticipated duel between Christian Estrosi and Éric Ciotti. “I would say it’s typical of LR. Mr. Ciotti owes everything to Mr. Estrosi. He made him and obviously he’s turning against him. It’s a mix of ingratitude and careerism.” The founder of Reconquête! also mentioned Philippe Vardon’s departure, a local figure in his party: “No, he didn’t abandon me, I fired him because I fire traitors.”
Regarding the Nice slate, Eric Zemmour seemed confident: “we already have them don’t worry. So we’ll campaign, there will be a Reconquête! slate led by Cédric Vella, a young man who has professional activity, who is willing, sincere, loyal.”
This candidacy adds another stone to the fragmentation of the local right. Especially since Éric Ciotti, deputy and candidate for mayor, has just turned an important page in his career himself.
Eric Ciotti reaches out once more to LR activists
The president of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) had sent a long letter on October 18 to his former companions from the Republicans. In this text, he calls for “unity of the right” and invites LR members to join his organization. “Our country is going through a historic crisis, both a security, migration, economic and institutional one,” he writes. He believes that “France and the French have never needed a strong, clear and courageous right more than ever.”
This initiative aims to end months of tension between Eric Ciotti and his former party. But it further complicates the alliance game in Nice. The announcement of the Reconquête! slate led by Cédric Vella goes against the unity strategy advocated by the Alpes-Maritimes deputy.
Christian Estrosi, for his part, is keeping a low profile for now, focused on municipal management. But criticism is not lacking, particularly on the question of transparency and on certain major urban projects.
On the left, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux advocates exemplarity
Candidate of the left-wing coalition, without France Unbowed, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux spoke on ethical grounds. She sent a letter to Christian Estrosi, Éric Ciotti and Charles-Ange Ginésy, president of the department, to ask for the full publication of their expense reports for the last three years.
She calls on each of them to “set an example and be open.” The Nice city hall responded that it would provide the documents “if the court requests them,” while assuring that “the city and its elected officials scrupulously respect the rules in force.”
The candidate’s gesture is part of a campaign where the question of transparency comes up regularly.
A streetcar to unlock Ariane?
An old issue is back on the table: the streetcar to Ariane. The project, promised since the late 1990s, has never materialized.
In a press release, the United for Nice slate recalls that “the transport minister, communist, Jean Claude Gayssot, had negotiated the compensation” for financing the first line: an extension to Ariane. Abandoned in 2010, the project is resurfacing.
The future line 5 could connect the Palace of Arts and Culture to Drap, via La Trinité, on a 7.6 kilometer route. Fifteen stations, three park-and-rides and six crossings of the Paillon are planned. The cost has risen from 350 to 480 million euros in three years.
Project supporters see it as an opportunity for a long marginalized neighborhood. “Line 5 is the unique opportunity to end a neighborhood confined to its place,” they say. The public inquiry begins on November 3 and continues until December 12.
Culture and politics: Julien Picot denounces an “unworthy contempt”
Julien Picot, leader of the Nice Communists and number two on the United for Nice slate, reacted to the words of the mayor of Nice. Christian Estrosi had described Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti as an “entertainment industry freelancer.”
“Christian Estrosi’s recent remarks, calling Éric Dupond-Moretti an ‘entertainment industry freelancer,’ are inappropriate and reflect an unworthy contempt for the cultural world,” declares Julien Picot. He adds: “what is all the more shocking is Patrick Mottard’s deafening silence.”
He reaffirms his support “for entertainment industry freelancers, an essential pillar of Nice’s and France’s cultural life.” For him, “their status is not a privilege.”
A grassroots candidacy between participation and transparency
Another voice in the debate: Nathalie Dloussky, proponent of the Together for France’s Grandeur slate. Her program highlights direct citizen participation, budget transparency and social justice.
She advocates for a “return to local sovereignty,” the implementation of Citizens’ Initiative Referendums, and the creation of regular popular assemblies. The announcement text calls for “a citizen awakening” and mobilization of all. According to her, “the salvation of Nice and France will not come from the mere appearance of a savior candidate,” referring to the candidates considered “favorites” for this election.
Her approach aims to unite beyond partisan divides, around a project of participatory governance and sustainable development.
The Paillon, a risk ignored according to Nice Popular Front
Finally, Nice Popular Front (NiFP) reopens the debate on flood risk management. In a press release, the movement revisits the mayor’s remarks during the inauguration of the green corridor extension.
Christian Estrosi had stated: “one day the Paillon will overflow,” before adding that “water can flow over a cleared surface.” The NiFP asks: “what is the mayor basing his reassurance on?”
The movement recalls that the Paillon Flood Risk Prevention Plan (PPRI) dates from 1999 and that its revision, begun in 2020, has still not been completed. A new prefectural decree was issued in January 2025, but with no concrete results.
Activists also question the decision to relocate the Apollinaire high school for safety reasons, while other exposed buildings, such as the Palace of Exhibitions, remain in place. They are demanding “full transparency” on ongoing studies.
A campaign that’s heating up… and this is just the beginning promises Christian Estrosi
Between divisions on the right, mobilizations on the left and grassroots initiatives, the 2026 municipal campaign promises to be lively in Nice. Issues are plentiful: urban development, transparency, ecology, culture, security and climate risks.
Each is trying to position themselves in a city where political balances remain fragile. In five months, Nice residents will have to choose between continuity, reshaping and change. Until then, the debates promise to be substantive.
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