Omar Yaqoob Wins Creil From Socialist Party After LFI’s New France Shift

In Creil, a town of about 37,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Oise River and 68 kilometers from Paris, a mural with children forming something like a children's UN includes names “up to 107,” while the city’s municipal leadership has shifted to Omar Yaqoob of La France insoumise (LFI).

“Menu Close icon Search icon A man stands in a street in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, on January 22, 2026”

Atlantico

El Mundo America quotes Théo Legrand saying, “Sometimes I have trouble recognizing the place where I was born,” and describes his sense of exclusion as more people arrive from Algeria, Somalia, or Pakistan.

Atlantico

Le Monde.fr frames Yaqoob’s rise as a political break, saying he defeated the Socialist Party (PS) allied with the French Communist Party and the Ecologists after trailing by nearly 10 points in the first round.

Le Monde.fr also links the change to LFI’s strategy, quoting Yaqoob that he and his movement did it “by ending 106 years of Socialist hegemony and the eighteen years of governance by the clan of Jean-Claude Villemain.”

In Creil, residents and shopkeepers interviewed by Le Figaro describe a “communitarian drift” and say the city is now led by LFI’s Omar Yaqoob after “threats and intimidation during the campaign.”

Le Figaro reports a shopkeeper’s worry about religious influence, quoting her: “He looks nice, but his team?”

El Mundo

Le Nouvel Obs depicts the mayor’s arrival in the Plateau Rouher neighborhood, where a regular greets him with “Salam alaykoum, Omar,” and is quickly rebuked with “That’s over, from now on it’s hello Mr. Mayor.”

El Mundo America adds that Théo Legrand points to insecurity, saying, “Not far from here was the place where Karim, the restaurant manager, was killed a few years ago, with a shot to the head in broad daylight.”

A broader debate over what LFI’s municipal wins mean runs through Telos, which says the latest municipal elections show that “a single, unambiguous reading of the results does not correspond to the diversity of situations.”

“The history of cities is written on their walls”

El Mundo America

Telos lays out the scale of the vote, saying the far-right won 61 communes, including 23 in the first round and 38 in the second, while the radical left won seven communes, including one in the first round and six in the second.

Telos also ties turnout to local conditions, writing that the turnout rate in the second round in these cities ranges from 52% (Creil) to 63% (Roubaix), compared to 42% on average in France.

In Creil specifically, El Mundo America describes the city’s social housing context, saying the Rouher Plateau is “one of the neighborhoods with the highest proportion of social housing in France, almost 50%,” and it quotes Khady Gueye warning that the vandalized headquarters of Femmes sans Frontière may be “a message directed at women.”