2026 Municipal Elections: Eric Ciotti Announces His Candidacy for Mayor of Nice

"It is with great emotion (...) that I want to inform the people of Nice, and to inform you generally, of my candidacy to become mayor of Nice," declared the president of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), Eric Ciotti, on Wednesday, August 27 , on the TF1 television news . The former head of the Republicans, who has joined the National Rally (RN), thus aims to dislodge his former mentor turned rival, Christian Estrosi.

"What I want is to offer new hope to the people of Nice," declared Mr. Ciotti, attacking the record of Mr. Estrosi, "elected to the municipal council for four decades," elected mayor in 2008 and re-elected in 2017, and who has "drifted" according to him.

Mr. Ciotti said he wanted to "bring people together (...) to give a new perspective" to the city, which, according to him, "suffers from insecurity" and an "extremely degraded financial situation with more than 3 billion euros of debt, with taxes that have increased massively." He said he wanted to "erase the 25% tax increase that Christian Estrosi, due to poor management, implemented last year."

The UDR leader also said he wanted "more attention for [the] families, for [the] young people" , proposed that schools benefit from air conditioning and "that [the] elderly benefit from structures which take care of their difficulties".

As for the national situation, "when there is a political crisis (...) , we must give the people a voice again," declared the MP. "On September 8, I will not give my confidence to François Bayrou," he announced, specifying: "Not only for budgetary questions," but also "for his entire work."

"All my support to Eric Ciotti," commented RN president Jordan Bardella on X, adding: "He knows his city perfectly, he loves its inhabitants: he is best placed to bring the city of Nice the renewal it needs."