" The great confrontation ". The title announces the color. This Wednesday evening on LCI, from 8:45 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., the first debate opposing seven of the candidates for mayor of Paris promises to be as interesting as it is tense. Ten days before the ballot, the outcome of the first round remains indeed uncertain. According to a Harris Interactive-Epoka poll of March 3, Rachida Dati (LR) leads with 25%, ahead of outgoing PS mayor Anne Hidalgo (24%). Agnès Buzyn (LREM) is at 17%, ahead of the ecologist David Belliard (EELV) at 11%. Cédric Villani (ex-LREM) obtains only 8%.
For this first televised debate, millimeter-sized, two draws decided between the candidates on speaking and placement. Cédric Villani inherited the number 1 bib and Anne Hidalgo will speak in stride. Agnès Buzyn will succeed him, then David Belliard, before Rachida Dati and Serge Federbusch (RN). Danielle Simonnet (LFI) will close the ban. As for the disposition of the candidates on the set, chance wanted Anne Hidalgo to be placed between David Belliard and Rachida Dati, to the left of the desk of David Pujadas who chairs the evening. Danielle Simonnet, Serge Federbusch, Agnès Buzin and… Cédric Villani will be on his right.
The chosen themes have been grouped into three sets: cleanliness-development-security, ecology-mobility-health and economy-housing-budget-solidarity-social.
" The risk for Anne Hidalgo is to find herself at the center of the attacks"
To prepare for the debate, Anne Hidalgo spent time with two relatives, the communicator Nathalie Rastoin and Jean-François Rial, boss of Voyageurs du Monde. Internally, Audrey Pulvar, who runs the campaign, and the candidate for the 9th, Arnaud Ngatcha - director of special operations for France Televisions - also brought her their expertise. “ The risk for Anne Hidalgo is to find herself at the center of the attacks. It will have to resist the trap of finding itself in a defensive position "and" passing messages in an atmosphere that promises to be at least polyphonic, "says its campaign director, Emmanuel Grégoire. He suspects that Rachida Dati will strongly climb the niche. A relative of the outgoing mayor already denounces the " outrageous and Trumpist character of his rhetoric ". "We should not make a lack of edge but we all agree that it will not be a decisive exercise", moderates Grégoire.
A sparring partner to repeat a debate? Rachida Dati laughs at it so much the idea seems to her incongruous. " Repeat a debate in advance? I don't know how to do it, ”says candidate LR at the Paris City Hall. “ Anyway, I know my program by heart, I wrote it by hand. It allows me to memorize everything. I drafted my indictments in the same way, ”specifies the ex-magistrate.
Despite a busy schedule, the mayor of the 7th arrondissement had planned Tuesday to prepare the debate with in particular his campaign manager Nelly Garnier and her very close assistant Emmanuelle Dauvergne. However, claims Rachida Dati, this is not the heart of the battle. Candidate LR prefers to go and get support from Parisians in the field. " I go to meet local residents, associations, I do apartment meetings, cafes, I go everywhere, " she says, " it's non-stop. I do not know how to do otherwise ”. The candidate LR intends to return this Wednesday evening to the balance sheet and the financial management of the outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Agnès Buzyn will seek “ to show herself as she is in real life ”
After only two weeks of campaigning, the candidate La République en Marche Agnès Buzyn, propelled at the last moment in the race, will seek during the program " to show herself as she is in real life ", indicates her campaign director, Paul Midy. “ Agnes will highlight her skills, her ability to manage crises. "No question, contrary to what some advise him, including the government, to enter the confrontation. " She does not want to type, all the punchlines that are offered to her are invalidated, " laments an executive adviser, unconvinced, notably facing Anne Hidalgo and Rachida Dati, by the card of " benevolence ". " She does not intend to distribute the blows, but she is not at all afraid of taking it all the same, " said the elected representative and spokesperson Marie-Laure Harel.
Rehearsal with Bruno Julliard
Several preparation sessions were organized at HQ, in the presence, in particular, of the former first deputy of Anne Hidalgo, Bruno Julliard, a " friend " of the former Minister of Health. " I have known her since 2012, and because of our ties, I gave her some advice on form, but it is out of the question for me to return to politics, " comments the ex-elected official at Le Figaro . Several actors in the campaign claim that he played the role of the mayor to train the macronist. Alongside Bruno Julliard, LREM MP Olivia Grégoire played Rachida Dati, Mounir Mahjoubi embodied the mathematician Cédric Villani, and Pierre-Yves Bournazel the ecologist David Belliard. The deputy MoDem Marielle de Sarnez was also very present, like Delphine Bürkli, mayor of the 9th district.
" Agnes has a lot of assets to highlight: the solidity of the project, a positioning that meets the aspirations of Parisians, " says Pierre-Yves Bournazel. The deputy and candidate for the 18th arrondissement will accompany Agnès Buzyn at BFMTV, like the party boss, Stanislas Guerini, the campaign director, Paul Midy, and the deputy Laëtitia Avia. In recent days, macronist teams have noticed the presence at the campaign headquarters of Agnès Buzyn's husband, Yves Lévy, doctor and HIV specialist, as well as journalist Laurent Bazin, "who has come to help with communication ".
For his part, Cédric Villani, ex-LREM, will be keen to take care of its introduction and its conclusion. " We go there to smash everything in the first five minutes, " says one of his supporters. " Cédric will show that he is the most proficient candidate, with the most balanced program, " notes Baptiste Fournier, his campaign manager, while the mathematician still points to fourth place in the polls.
Belliard wants to be known
" Very serene " according to his entourage, the ecologist David Belliard trained on his side with one of his coach friends. He hopes for " a debate on the merits ", which can " shed light on (his) candidacy ", he who calls himself " the unknown of the campaign, less known compared to the others, famous personalities national or even international, for several years ”. " David Belliard and Anne Hidalgo are the only two candidates to really know their files, " says the entourage of the candidate of environmentalists, who hopes that the debate will not turn " into inaudible cacophony ". " Given that Rachida Dati did not set foot in the Paris Council during her mandate , it is expected, she will not be on the merits but will divert attention with very frontal attacks ".