behind the scenes of the decision of the mayor of Paris

The mayor of Paris has announced that she will not run again in the 2026 municipal elections. A decision taken a few months ago, which was made public in order to support her designated successor: Rémi Féraud.

It's official: Anne Hidalgo will not seek a third term at the head of Paris. A decision announced this Tuesday, November 26 in an interview with Le Monde, but which was taken within four walls much earlier.

Anne Hidalgo has chosen not to run again in 2026 before the Olympic and Paralympic Games, confides the entourage of the mayor of Paris to BFM Paris Île-de-France. However, given the sporting event but also the tense political context with the dissolution and the early legislative elections, the councilor did not want to speak earlier.

“Allow Rémi Féraud to carry out his project”

A very important decision for the politician, who in 2026 will celebrate her 25 years at city hall (first deputy from 2001 to 2014 under Bertrand Delanoë, then mayor).

“If she does it now, it is to allow Rémi Féraud to carry out her project and to be a candidate,” those around her whisper to us.

The PS senator and president of the Paris en Commun group at the Paris Council had informed the mayor in mid-September of his desire to run. According to our information, Rémi Féraud therefore began discussions with the other elected representatives of the majority to explain his ambitions.

It is “not a decision that he took on a corner of the table”, we assure you at city hall.

An internal process to decide between candidates

An internal process will be organized by the PS federation to nominate the candidate, which is planned as part of a local election. Emmanuel Grégoire, former first deputy of Anne Hidalgo and now a Parisian deputy, had also expressed his desire to run in the municipal elections a week ago.

According to information from BFM Paris Île-de-France, the MP called Rémi Féraud last week to inform him of his candidacy. There would be no animosity between the two politicians. In Le Parisien, he explained that he had “a lot of esteem” for the senator.

However, Emmanuel Grégoire also noted that “Paris is not a heritage”, and that “it will be first the socialist activists then the Parisians who will decide”.

Emmanuel Grégoire will therefore seek his legitimacy via the activists, while Rémi Féraud benefits from the dubbing of Anne Hidalgo and the support of socialist executives.

Rémi Féraud, an ideal profile?

For Anne Hidalgo, it is Rémi Féraud who is best able to bring the gathering together and take over from him.

For years, the two elected officials have shared their ideas and their struggles. Rémi Féraud has always followed Anne Hidalgo's policy, without complaining, despite sometimes divisive and unpopular subjects such as that of lower-risk consumption rooms, which he opened in the 10th arrondissement.

According to Anne Hidalgo's entourage, he is an elected official with a well-built spine who will not waver. “Not too divisive”, he knows how to “negotiate and discuss”. He also has experience, with two terms as president of the majority group.

Anne Hidalgo should therefore support him in particular in a first trip planned in a few days. The two elected socialists have often been seen together in recent weeks, notably at the preview of Les Misérables at the Châtelet theater or at the inauguration of the illuminations on the Champs-Élysées this Sunday, November 24.

What about after Paris for Hidalgo?

Anne Hidalgo, however, does not intend to let go of Paris town hall before the day comes. “She will be mayor until the last second,” assures those around her. “She does not intend to make 2025 a year of tranquility. She draws her authority from her mandate and her democratic legitimacy until 2026.”

In 2025, for example, the city plans an investment of 1.7 billion euros. Upcoming projects include the new urban forests at the town hall and Place du Colonel-Fabien, the renovation of the Place de la Concorde, the Notre-Dame square, swimming open to the public in the Seine at the summer 2025, the greening of new streets, or the installation of new social housing.

After returning her scarf in 2026, Anne Hidalgo will continue to play politics, “by sharing humanist, environmentalist and social democratic values”, confides those around her to BFM Paris Île-de-France.

In particular, it intends to turn internationally to continue its fight against climate change. If at this stage, nothing is yet certain, Anne Hidalgo assures us in the columns of Le Monde: “what place, I will see, in a place where I would be very free”.