The municipal campaign is finished since Friday evening and to hear the Parisian candidates… it was time. “With the interruption linked to the Covid epidemic, this campaign will have broken all longevity records”, observes Pierre-Yves Bournazel, head of LREM list in the 18th arrondissement, who went on campaign for the Hôtel de Ville in 2018 .
If the elected officials are tired, they are still under tension. The latest polls in the capital before the second round on Sunday June 28 leave little room for suspense: the outgoing mayor (PS) Anne Hidalgo should prevail very much, with almost 10 points ahead of Rachida Dati (LR), credited with around 35% of voting intentions, while Agnès Buzyn (LREM) would remain in third place, but far behind with around 18%. Nevertheless, some uncertainties hang over the ballot.
The unknown of abstention
The participation rate first. In the first round, on March 15, only 42% of the voters went to the polls. How many will there be this Sunday? According to the polling institute BVA, the participation could fall to 41%. Who will suffer from this weak mobilization? The concern is real in all camps. At Anne Hidalgo’s, we hope that the left electorate who thinks the election already played will still move to allow the outgoing mayor to grab a maximum of positions of councilors of Paris. The right, it worries that the persistence of the epidemic of Covid-19 does not discourage its old electorate. The Dati team has also set up a website to encourage its voters to make proxies.
As for the LREM team, it hopes that the electorate who has left to confine itself even before the first round is held will have made its arrangements to participate in the second round. “Many retirees, but also families with children had left for the countryside on Saturday before the election and these voices were probably missed,” observes Gaspard Gantzer, LREM candidate in the sixth and communication advisor to Agnes Buzyn.
Moment of Truth for Villani
Another uncertainty of this second round in Paris: the outcome of the election in the 5th and 9th arrondissements. The two outgoing mayors ex-LR Florence Berthout and Delphine Bürkli joined LREM. For the second round, in order to avoid a triangular that might cause him to lose his town hall in Ve, Berthout merged his list with his former LR colleagues, while remaining vague on the candidate (Buzyn or Dati?) Whom she would support then to the Paris Council. In the 9th century, Bürkli chose to remain “independent” and refused any comparison with the LR list. Which of these strategies will be successful? Between the procrastination in the 5th and the triangular of the 9th, these two districts could switch to the left. Anne Hidalgo was not mistaken by multiplying the field trips there. Former mayor Bertrand Delanoë even left his reserve to appear alongside the left candidate of the 5th, Marie-Christine Lemardeley.
This second round will also be a moment of truth for a former postulant at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, Cédric Villani. The dissident candidate LREM decided not to ally either with Anne Hidalgo or with Agnès Buzyn for the second round. The only candidate on the “Le Nouveau Paris” lists to have crossed the 10% mark in the first round, he remained alone in the 14th century. Will he manage to make his entrance to the Paris Council or will he be a simple borough councilor? Answer Sunday evening.
> Find the results of the municipal elections in Paris
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