"The great confrontation". This is the title chosen this evening by LCI for the unique and long-awaited debate before the first round between the candidates for mayor of Paris. A televised duel which, in an unprecedented way, will bring together on a single platform the seven main candidates in the capital. And the stakes are high since, eleven days before the election, the uncertainty has never been greater between the applicants.
Particularly in the top three made up of a 100% female cast between the outgoing Anne Hidalgo, then the former ministers Rachida Dati (LR) and Agnès Buzyn (LREM). With polls where everything is shaking up, and a pole position now occupied, against all odds, by the mayor of the 7th arrondissement: in the lead with 25% of voting intentions according to the last Elabe survey published last weekend, just ahead Hidalgo (24%) and Buzyn (18.5%). So a pocket square. Completed this evening by the participation of dissident En Marche Cédric Villani, the Green David Belliard, the rebellious Danielle Simonnet then the candidate lepéniste Serge Federbusch (RN).
"Paris is never a campaign like the others"
Once again, the City of Lights is at the heart of all the attention in this election. “Paris is never a campaign like the others. It is the capital of France, an election necessarily symbolic for all political parties, decrypts Bruno Cautrès, researcher at CNRS and professor at Science-po. And then there is this idea of a fortress, a springboard to the Elysée ”.
With, too, its share of incredible twists and turns that only politics can offer. Like the sex tape affair. This dark story which led Benjamin Griveaux to capitulate in the open countryside, pushing, despite herself, Agnès Buzyn to take up the torch of a macronie which, on paper, had serious hopes in the capital a few months ago. "But I will win and I will prove it in this debate. I may not be a political heiress, but I have tanned leather, "assures us the former Minister of Health, engaged there in her very first electoral campaign.
For the favorites, the stakes are very different. Several themes were chosen this evening: cleanliness, pollution, traffic, housing, security, solidarity and of course the budget. And in this register, it is Anne Hidalgo, in her status of outgoing mayor, who will necessarily concentrate the attacks, with a record to defend. What compel him to be offensive? "Not sure, but everything will depend on the attitude of others," says Jean-Louis Missika, president of "Paris in common", its support platform, having nevertheless in the viewfinder a certain Rachida Dati.
"Polls don't make the election"
Because even if the rule of the election with three turns, with a ballot governed by logics of roundings, is not to the advantage of the former Sarkozy minister, it remains all the same the revelation in this last line right. "Who would have bet a month ago that she would be leading the polls? Even second? Frankly, no one. For her, it's already a victory to find yourself in such a situation, ”insists a baron LR.
“I am very lucid, the polls do not make the election. But they still reflect a dynamic, she tells us. My strength is that I am free, sincere. My determination to change things in Paris is total and I intend to prove it again during this debate ”. “A few weeks ago, everyone said that this election would end up crashing his political career. And finally, the Sarkozyst icon that she was is showing that she has been able to reinvent herself, ”says Bruno Cautrès.
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It remains to be seen that she will be the room for maneuver for the other four challengers during this evening. Having the same speaking time for all could allow them to make a little out of the game. This is in any case what Cédric Villani wants to believe, barely in the last polls. “He approaches this meeting by being very concentrated because one in three Parisians has not yet made his choice. So tonight, in such an indecisive election, the debate can be decisive, “wants to believe its spokesman, Rayan Nezzar. Response from 9 p.m.
