Candidate from twin town Lorient at the forefront of parliamentary elections in France.

Parliamentary election: Left in Lorient leading – Ludwigshafen

In the recent parliamentary elections in the French city of Lorient, a narrow lead emerged for the candidate of the left-wing alliance Nouveau front Populaire. The 51-year-old ecologist Damien Girard received 35.6 percent of the vote, followed by the candidate of President Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble party, Lysiane Métayer, with 34.6 percent. The right-wing populist Rassemblement Nationale (RN) party received 27.9 percent of the vote. This result marks an interesting shift in the political landscape of Lorient.

Nationwide, Marine Le Pen and her allies were able to count on around 34 percent of the vote and were elected as the strongest force. In Lorient, the right also recorded a significant increase, with the RN candidate receiving only 12.9 percent in the last election and now more than doubling this share. The decision as to who will ultimately emerge from the Twin town in Lorient to the National Assembly in Paris, will fall in the upcoming runoff elections on 7 June.

Lorient, a port city with 58,000 inhabitants in Brittany in the Morbihan department, has had a partnership with Ludwigshafen since 1963. This connection goes far beyond mere formal relations, as schools, churches, cultural institutions, universities, the city administration and the fire brigade actively participate in the exchange. The partnership with Lorient is therefore considered to be one of the liveliest of the eight town twinning partnerships that Ludwigshafen maintains.