Marine Le Pen’s National Rally fell short in its bid to take control of a host of major French cities in Sunday’s municipal election, signaling potential difficulties for the far-right party ahead of next year’s presidential ballot.

The National Rally was headed for defeat in a handful of the municipalities they targeted, including Marseille, Toulon and Nimes, according to estimates based on partial counts of ballots by the polling companies Elabe and Ifop. A far-right candidate aligned with Le Pen, however, was set to win in Nice, the fifth-largest city in France.

Le Pen and National Rally President Jordan Bardella sought to use the ballots in 35,000 cities across France to consolidate support ahead of next year’s election, when Emmanuel Macron is barred from running again. And while the far right broadly improved its vote count, the National Rally failed to translate that into key victories in the two-round electoral system.

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