Six months after his inauguration by La République en Marche and two months from the first round, the candidate for mayor of Paris Benjamin Griveaux has finally chosen his base.
The ex-government spokesman will head the list in the 17th, 167,000 inhabitants, a "big" district in the hands of the right for decades, he announced Tuesday afternoon at AFP. It is also in the cinema of the new Batignolles district that he will present his wishes on Thursday morning.
"It is a borough that has changed a lot with the new courthouse, the Martin-Luther-King district" and "which does not escape certain social fractures, between the north and the south of the district, of the populations fragile and others easier, with urban issues and traffic, "said the deputy, who therefore does not run in the fifth district (composed of the III and X district) where he was elected in 2017.
One objective: "to be mayor of Paris"
His candidacy should be formalized this Wednesday by the executive office of the National Investiture Commission (CNI) of En Marche. The candidate will find on the list, in an ineligible position, the boss of LREM Stanislas Guerini, who came in reinforcement last week. Asked by AFP what he would decide if he lost the battle of Paris but won the 17th, where LREM achieves excellent scores, Benjamin Griveaux evaded the question recalling that his "goal is to be mayor from Paris ".
Persistent rumors had run this fall on a possible agreement between Benjamin Griveaux and the current mayor (LR) of the XVII Geoffroy Boulard.
The latter, who had not yet reacted this Tuesday evening, was invested last week by his party The Republicans to the chagrin of the candidate LR at the City Hall Rachida Dati, who has since softened.
