Emmanuel Gregoire leads in Paris municipal elections

The list headed by left-wing candidate Emmanuel Gregoire leads the vote in the first round of municipal elections in Paris on Sunday, Radio France reported, citing initial estimates, reported Xinhua.

Gregoire, heading the candidate list of an alliance of the Socialist Party, The Ecologists and the French Communist Party, won 36.5 percent of the vote, while the list led by former culture minister Rachida Dati of The Republicans obtained 24.9 percent, according to the preliminary estimates by polling institute Ipsos.

According to the French Interior Ministry, the candidate list including French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu won more than 59 percent of the vote in Vernon in the northern department of Eure, securing victory in the first round of the municipal elections.

France held the first round of municipal elections on Sunday. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, about 48.7 million voters are eligible to participate in the elections, including 374,000 European Union citizens residing in France who have registered as voters.

Data from the Interior Ministry showed that a total of 904,042 candidates, grouped into 50,478 candidate lists, are running. In the first round, candidate lists that fail to win more than 50 percent of valid votes but obtain at least 10 percent will advance to the second round scheduled for March 22.

Municipal elections in France are held every six years to choose local councilors, mayors and other officials. Unlike previous elections, this year's vote adopted candidate lists, and independent candidates were no longer allowed to run, with voters casting ballots for lists of candidates.