Socialist frontrunner Emmanuel Grégoire was elected Paris mayor on Sunday, beating right-wing former minister Rachida Dati and extending the left’s quarter-century rule in the French capital, according to projections.
Grégoire, a 48-year-old former deputy of outgoing Mayor Anne Hidalgo, was credited with around 52% of the vote, trouncing Dati and hard-left rival Sophia Chikirou – and defying forecasts of a close race.
“Paris has decided to stay true to its history,” Grégoire told a cheering crowd, vowing to resist the right and far right in the lead-up to next year’s presidential polls.
“Paris will be the heart of the resistance against this alliance of the right, which seeks to take away what we hold most precious and fragile: the simple joy of living together,” he added.
The French capital’s mayor-elect Emmanuel Grégoire cycled to the Hôtel de Ville, the Paris City Hall, after his resounding victory. © Kenzo Tribouillard, AFP
The newly elected mayor then cycled to City Hall on a Velib’, the French capital’s flagship bike-sharing system, signalling continuity with his predecessors.
His victory follows 25 years of transformational rule under successive left-wing mayors Bertrand Delanoë and Hidalgo, who have turned the polluted metropolis into a tree-lined city of bike lanes and pedestrian streets.
Tense campaign
The election caps a tense campaign that saw Grégoire accuse President Emmanuel Macron of meddling in local politics to weaken his chances, a claim the French leader dismissed as “nonsense”.
The Socialist frontrunner had taken a commanding lead in the first round last week with almost 38% of the vote, more than twelve points ahead of Dati, who served as culture minister under Macron.
But Dati’s alliance with a centre-right rival and the tactical withdrawal of a far-right challenger looked to have boosted her chances going into the second round, even as Grégoire refused to team up with Chikirou, splitting the left-wing vote.
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Far-right leader Marine Le Pen had also called on voters in Paris to oust the left from power – though that call may have been more of a blessing for Grégoire, with the Le Pen brand still toxic to most voters in the French capital.
For Grégoire, Sunday’s resounding victory provides vindication of his decision not to ally with Chikirou’s France Unbowed, whose radical rhetoric has alienated many moderate voters – and possibly cost the left victories elsewhere in France.
‘Inner wound’
A discreet politician who has worked behind the scenes both in government and at City Hall, Grégoire has vowed to pursue the capital’s green revolution and improve public housing in the densely populated city of 2 million people that is grappling with a housing crisis.
As heir to Hidalgo, he will also face a public angered by roadwork disruptions, mounting debt and a scandal involving child sexual abuse allegations by school monitors in nursery and primary schools.
Grégoire, who has promised to improve the recruitment and training of school monitors in Paris, has spoken publicly about being a victim of sexual abuse in an after-school swimming programme for several months when he was in primary.
“I have long carried in me an inner wound,” he said last year, adding that he hoped telling his story might encourage children to speak out.
The incoming mayor has promised a leadership style “closely connected to the people” and has sought to distance himself from Hidalgo’s style of governance, which critics described as abrasive, even as he promises to embrace and continue much of her legacy.
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