This time, they are united. The Nantes Green Party announced on Wednesday, October 15, their support for the candidacy of the current Socialist mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, in the upcoming municipal elections on March 15 and 22, 2026. Unlike in 2014 and 2020—when the Green Party and the Rose Party each went it alone in the first round—this time, Green activists voted to ally themselves with Johanna Rolland’s candidacy by a very large majority, nearly 81% of the vote (they had two other options: allying with La France Insoumise (8.1%) or going it alone (7.9%)). The Socialist Party mayor of Nantes is seeking a third term and can now count on the support of the party that came third in the 2014 and 2020 municipal elections, with a joint project.
“A major choice for Nantes”
The project was detailed this Wednesday afternoon by Johanna Rolland and Marie Vitoux, leader of the Ecologists. “I welcome the choice of the environmental activists. It’s a major choice for Nantes. A choice hoped for and awaited by the men and women of the left in our region,” declared the mayor of Nantes. Alongside her, Marie Vitoux said she was “proud” and “not at all bitter” about abandoning a Green candidate in the municipal elections.
“The joint list [which now includes the Socialist Party, Communists, and Ecologists] will continue to expand,” continued Johanna Rolland. But it still does not include the LFI, which is undesirable in this alliance in the eyes of the mayor of Nantes. The Insoumis (Rebellious Party) also criticized the Greens’ choice to ally themselves with the Socialist Party: it represents an “abandonment of grassroots ecology,” wrote LFI. The rebels are persona non grata, having already designated their campaign partners.
Equality, ecological shift, and anti-racism
Several priorities were set by the two leaders: the fight for equality, the pursuit of the ecological shift, including the creation of an additional 150 km of cycle paths and doubling the current budget for cycle facilities. A “clear anti-racist” position, says Marie Vitoux of the Greens. “Nantes will become a city of refuge for exiles in the future, regardless of their administrative status,” she asserts. “If the far right took power in 2027, Nantes would be a city of resistance.”
If elected, the politicians want to extend free tram and bus travel to an additional 15,000 low-income Nantes residents. Nearly 30,000 residents already benefit from this. This expansion will cost €700,000 per year, they calculated.
Another priority is housing: “It’s an absolutely major issue. We want a nursing assistant at the university hospital, a bus driver, to be able to continue living in our city. We want to take a further step in housing regulation; 60% of new housing production in the city of Nantes will be accessible to the middle and lower-income classes. We will move towards 40% social housing and 20% affordable housing,” continues Johanna Rolland.
The problem. The two parties still disagree on the deployment of video surveillance in the streets undertaken by the socialist city council, which remains “obsolete” for the Greens. The divergence is acknowledged, but the two leaders ignore it.
