The PS mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, “does not exclude anything” with a view to the municipal elections in 2026, she said Thursday after her right-wing rival Rachida Dati confirmed her candidacy in the wake of her appointment as minister of Culture. “I am not excluding anything but I am focused on my task” and in particular “the success of the Olympics”, said the elected socialist, guest of the Quatres Vérités on France 2, six months before the Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11 ) and Paralympics (August 28 – September 8).
“I will decide in due time after the Games”
“I will decide in due time after the Games,” replied the former PS candidate in the presidential election, when asked about a possible candidacy for a third term, after 2014 and 2020. Two years from the deadline, the surprise appointment of Rachida Dati in the government of Gabriel Attal, on January 11, changed the situation in the race for City Hall, opening the way to a possible alliance between the Macronist camp and the local right, despite the exclusion of the person concerned from the Republicans.
Six days later, the day after a press conference by the President of the Republic during which Emmanuel Macron assured that he had not spoken about this subject with her, Rachida Dati confirmed her candidacy, saying she wanted to “bring together all those who want it changes in Paris.” “She should rather be interested in culture,” said Anne Hidalgo, recalling that “in Paris, the official candidate of power has never had much luck”.
“Soles of lead”
“Appointed by the President of the Republic to conquer Paris, in general, that rather makes you leave with soles of lead,” she added, in reference to the misadventures of the Macronists Benjamin Griveaux and Agnès Buzyn in 2020. As for the Council of Paris, peppered with salvos between Ms. Dati and Ms. Hidalgo, “it will give us a bit of a vacation,” said Anne Hidalgo, deploring “three years of insults, permanent insults” coming from her rival.
But contacted by AFP, Nelly Garnier, an elected official close to Rachida Dati, emphasizes that the mayor of the 7th arrondissement “remains a member of the group” LR and related groups and that she “will continue to sit” in the Parisian hemicycle. In addition to Ms. Dati, Horizons opponent Pierre-Yves Bournazel, from the ranks of the right, does not hide his desire to become mayor of the capital, just like Anne Hidalgo’s first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire.