She will have lasted twelve years. This Tuesday, with our colleagues at MondeAnne Hidalgo has announced that she will not run for a third term in 2026. Two terms of being accused of all Parisian ills, from the slightest pothole to the future end of the world. Enough to exhaust (the other) iron lady of the capital, mayor of all municipal battles, until her Paris 2024 Olympics, her apotheosis.
By announcing the end of her reign at the Paris City Hall, Anne Hidalgo launched, in fact, the municipal elections of 2026. Unofficially, since she is ultra-favorite in her own re-election, she opens a wide window to all the suitors. But also officially by designating his successor in the person of Rémi Féraud, senator and president of the majority in the Council of Paris.
Two “natural” candidates declared to the PS
But the honorary title of “dolphin” now bestowed on the former mayor of the 10th arrondissement in no way guarantees him a victory in 2026 and all those who would like to take his place have eighteen months to refine their strategy and sharpen their knives.
Certainly, the dubbing of the outgoing mayor gives her a certain advantage, and guarantees her a good number of supports in the current municipal team, starting with Lamia El Aaraje, deputy, close to Anne Hidalgo, and above all, first secretary of the Parisian federation of the Socialist Party.
However, Lamia El Aaraje confirmed this Tuesday to BFM TV that Rémi Féraud, like any other socialist contender, will have to go through an “internal nomination process” in which he will undoubtedly find himself facing Emmanuel Grégoire.
Primary or not?
Exfiltrated to the National Assembly during the early legislative elections last June due to his proximity to Olivier Faure and his barely veiled pretensions, the former first deputy and now deputy for the 7th district of Paris publicly announced his candidacy for the mayoral seat last week. He should receive support from within the Socialist Party and already claims 450 among Parisian activists.
If the designation process is still to be defined, several elected officials from the majority would prefer to put aside an official primary, often considered “fratricidal”, even “suicidal”. Patrick Bloche, first deputy to the mayor of Paris, and who often plays a mediating role within the municipal majority, confirms this trend: “We have time to see a candidate emerge. The important thing remains to assume and take over the legacy of Anne Hidalgo. »
The left agrees on union
Primary or not, Ian Brossat, communist senator from Paris and municipal councilor, wants the nomination of a union candidacy on the left. He who said he was “available” in 20 Minutes last week to embody it, confirms to us this Tuesday the imperative need for a single voice: “Each movement will nominate its candidate, and we will see who will go. The important thing is that everyone is there. »
Accustomed to presenting a distinct candidate in the first round, as in 2014 and 2020, it is also the voice of the union that we choose the environmentalist members, tells us Antoine Alibert, co-secretary EELV of Paris: “For the first times, and unanimously, our members voted for a call for the union of the left. It is the context of the rise of the extreme right in France which obliges us to give ourselves the means to preserve Paris. A union that excludes no party [même LFI pourtant en disgrâce chez les socialistes parisiens]. »
LFI to absent subscribers
According to the activist, the Greens, on the other hand, do not fear a primary and will vote in December on the terms of designation of a leader who will represent EELV within this union. “Anne Hidalgo's assessment is above all the assessment of the ecologists who pushed for its application. And Anne Hidalgo had the courage to do it. But his departure opens the way to a change of leadership within the Parisian left towards the environmentalists. » If Antoine Alibert does not wish to put forward any names, two heads stand out mainly among the Greens. David Belliard, deputy to Anne Hidalgo in charge of transport and mobility, very prominent during this mandate, and Anne-Claire Boux, deputy in charge of city policy.
On the side of the LFI, if the party had announced in 2023 that it was preparing to become “the first force in Paris” for 2026, with Sophia Chikirou at the possible head of the list, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's party remains discreet in the capital for the moment.
Bournazel eyes the center and the disappointed left and right
The rallying of the Insoumis would disappoint some in the municipal majority, some could be tempted to join the candidacy of Pierre-Yves Bournazel. The Horizons de Paris councilor who has already received the support of Edouard Philippe has never hidden his claims to the town hall.
If he has not yet made an official statement, it should not take long. HAS 20 Minuteshe confides: “Yes, I prepare myself, day after day, district after district, methodically, to carry out a new project. » He who has never opposed systematically in the Council of Paris, has even supported certain projects of Anne Hidalgo, such as streets to schools, for example, hopes to bring together as many people as possible, from “the social, democratic left and environmentalist” to the moderate right. He will also probably flirt with the Bayrouists and the UDI who, barring the surprise candidacy of Maud Gatel, will not have a representative in 2026.
Above all, he hopes to convince “the Macronists disappointed by rallying behind Rachida Dati” who can represent a good reserve of votes.
Dati superstar challenged
Because she is indeed the headliner of these municipal elections of 2026. If her legal setbacks leave her alone between now and the municipal elections, Rachida Dati, orphan of her best enemy, is offered a boulevard towards the Town Hall of Paris with the Renaissance support gleaned from its rallying to the Attal then Barnier governments.
She is the “natural leader” that the right “needs to reconquer Paris from an extremely strong left”, according to Geoffroy Boulard, LR mayor of the 17th arrondissement and who founded a dissident group, Union Capitale, at the Council of Paris which he co-chairs with Agnès Evren and… Pierre-Yves Bournazel. “Yes, there are several groups in the Paris Council, but that is not where the town hall is played out,” explains the elected official who wants to play the role of unifying element between the different right-wing groups in the capital.
The Macronists can influence… but in what direction?
It remains for him to cross his fingers that a new star candidacy does not come and put a spoke in the wheels of the Minister of Justice. A candidacy led by Gabriel Attal, for example, who was credited with a very favorable opinion score in Paris (42%) in an Ipsos poll published on November 17 and in which he was even ahead of Rachida Dati (35 %) and Anne Hidalgo (28%). An idea that he could explore further if his national future were to become obscured by the next possible deadlines such as early legislative elections announcing complicated presidential elections for the Macronists in 2027.
Once cited as potential contenders for the throne of Paris, Clément Beaune and Olivia Grégoire seem, for the moment, out of the picture. “What Rachida Dati should mainly be wary of, and this is also the case for Gabriel Attal, is the Parisian tradition of cutting the headliners. Paris is a true national star cemetery, remember Jack Lang, Philippe Séguin, or more recently NKM [Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet] », Explains an elected official, a fine connoisseur of Parisian politics. Of which act.
