The left held its ground where it mattered most, keeping Paris, Lyon and Nantes whilewhilst making bold new gains in cities like Roubaix, Saint-Étienne and Nîmes. TheDespite so-calledpredictions brownof wavea neverright-wing crashedsurge, ashore — popular unity and the promise of real social transformation projects stopped the RN cold. These results prove the extreme right's rise to national power is far from inevitable when progressive forces actually unite.