"This Sunday, you made the choice in these extraordinary circumstances to trust us." The tone is grave and solemn when Anne Hidalgo addresses Parisians from her headquarters on Boulevard Sébastopol (I), just before 10 p.m.
After a first round, where abstention broke records in the capital, rising to 57% (13 points more than six years ago), a direct consequence of the coronavirus crisis , the outgoing mayor of Paris appears as the big winner of the evening.
According to results which were not yet final, the outgoing mayor (PS) won 30% of the votes, clearly leaving behind the candidate LR Rachida Dati at 22%, and even more so her competitor En Marche Agnès Buzyn who does not collect only 17% of the vote.
LR want to believe
While she was given shoulder to shoulder with Anne Hidalgo, or even ahead in several polls, Rachida Dati is finally outpaced by eight points by the outgoing mayor. Should this be seen as an effect of abstention which may have mobilized its electorate little? "Undoubtedly, not everyone was able to vote," explained the former Minister of Justice this Sunday evening.
VIDEO: Dati, outranked, calls "to turn the page on Hidalgo"
The head of the LR list comes first in his town hall in the 7th district, like four of his candidates from central and western Paris: the 6th, 8th, 15th and 16th centuries. Re-elected, Rachida Dati was offensive: "There are indeed two paths for Paris: a path of continuity, that of the decline of Paris, which is that of Anne Hidalgo, and that of a profoundly different project, the ours, which revives the concerns of Parisians, with their concrete expectations, with their desire to remake Paris a city in which we feel good […] My will to fight for Parisians is even stronger this evening . I call all those who want change to join me by listening only to themselves and keeping in mind that they are the only owners of their vote. "
Agnes Buzyn very far
The evening was even harder for the pretender macronist Agnès Buzyn, who had replaced Benjamin Griveaux at short notice a month ago following the broadcasting of intimate videos of the candidate LREM. It only leads in the 5th and 9th arrondissements, where the outgoing mayors (ex-LR) had joined it. She herself came only in second position in the XVIIth century where she appeared, far behind the outgoing mayor LR.
His chances of winning Paris therefore seem slim. But, she noted, "more than two in three Parisians have expressed a desire for change. It is our responsibility to hear it. ” Agnes Buzyn reached out to the dissident candidate (excluded from En Marche) Villani, who won only 6.8% of the vote in the capital. "What brings us together is so much more important than what divides us," she says.
Anne Hidalgo calls for rally
With 11% of the vote, David Belliard, the environmental candidate, improves by three points the score of his training in 2014 but does not register the expected boost. No doubt because of the very green campaign of Anne Hidalgo who posed as champion of ecology. The latter clearly benefited from a bonus for leavers since its candidates achieve very good scores in its strongholds.
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VIDEO: Anne Hidalgo calls for unity
"Anne Hidalgo is very much in the lead in the left districts," confirms Jean-Louis Missika, its campaign manager. "The coronavirus crisis has given a premium to the outgoing," he continues. Anne Hidalgo handled the health crisis and the elections correctly and the Parisians saw in her a personality capable of ruling the city in times of crisis ”.
During her speech, Anne Hidalgo also called for "union in the face of the coronavirus, the economic crisis and the climatic danger". It has also reached out to its environmental partners, members of the left majority since 2001, calling for "unity and the gathering of ecologists, progressives and humanists so that ecology, the values of solidarity and mutual aid that we share ”.
Cédric Villani very low
Will she also be joined by Cédric Villani? This Sunday evening, he explained that he wanted to bring all of his list leaders together "to discuss the follow-up to be given to our action around our values of progress and ecology". The member for Essonne therefore did not give a clear instruction, but his remarks could hint at a possible agreement with Anne Hidalgo.
Note that the rebellious candidate Danielle Simonnet collected 4.6% of the vote, a little less than in 2014. The national speaker of LFI seems to be able to keep her seat on the Council of Paris. Conversely, his duo, the former international footballer Vikash Dhorasoo, failed to qualify in the second round in the 18th arrondissement.
In her speech, Anne Hidalgo did not mention a possible cancellation of the second round, which was yesterday on everyone's lips. But earlier in the evening, she had split a tweet to ask the government "to specify this evening all the necessary additional measures that will protect the French against the major crisis we are going through."