France suspects foreign interference in key mayoral races

The campaign was aimed at lawmakers of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who are running to be the mayors of the southern cities of Marseille and Toulouse, AFP learned, with the first round of voting Sunday.

France's VIGINUM agency, which tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, said it had detected inauthentic-looking websites and social media accounts with "foreign technical markers" that had been targeting "a French political party and... some of its candidates in the municipal elections in Marseille and Toulouse".

The security source told AFP the MPs were Sebastien Delogu and Francois Piquemal.

"Investigations to clarify the exact origin are still underway," the source added.

Marseille public prosecutors said they had launched a defamation probe following a complaint filed by Delogu.

An online blog claiming to be written by a former associate described "how Sebastien Delogu hurt me and destroyed my life".

Posters containing a QR code linking to the blog -- no longer accessible Tuesday -- were pasted around Marseille, according to photos taken by Delogu's team and sent to AFP.

French daily Le Monde reported that the blog was connected to "a network of fake accounts" on X usually used to promote messaging from the pro-Israeli ELNET lobby, which is registered in France, and had also targeted Piquemal.
Both criticised Israel over Gaza
Both LFI lawmakers are outspoken critics of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Delogu said Tuesday he had been targeted by "indecent and defamatory accusations" since the beginning of his campaign over his stance on the Palestinian territories and domestic French issues.

"I am being targeted by the far-right Israeli government because I have denounced the ongoing genocide in Palestine, for having defended international law, and because I speak out against all forms of corruption that are damaging our city and our republic," he said.

"Two far-right governments are targeting me -- the United States and Israel," he added.

"They're targeting a young man from the working-class neighborhoods of Marseille who wants radical change for his city and who is denouncing the ongoing genocide."

Piquemal called on the judiciary to "shed light on all the ins and outs of these malicious acts".

"This is not the first time we've faced threats and online harassment from Israeli far-right groups," he told AFP.

Earlier this month, VIGINUM accused a Russian group tied to military intelligence of foreign interference after it targeted Pierre-Yves Bournazel, a centre-right candidate, in the Paris mayoral race using a fraudulent website.