Paris Mayor of the 7th arrondissement had long announced that she would leave the government before the first round of the election scheduled for March 15.
The campaign is intensifying. Candidate in the Paris municipal elections, the outgoing Culture Minister Rachida Dati has just announced that she is leaving the government to focus on the March 15 and 22 elections. The mayor of the 7th district of the capital had indeed long made it known that she would not lead the battle for City Hall from rue de Valois, but her departure was taking time to materialize, less than three weeks before the first round.
Comforted by a recent Ifop survey published earlier this week, which placed her as the winner in almost all scenarios, she is currently facing competition from nationalist Sarah Knafo (Reconquête) on her right and centrist Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons/Renaissance) on her left. Invited on France Inter this Wednesday, the latter even felt the need to affirm that he was running “to win” and that he “will not join either Grégoire or Dati in the second round.”
Catherine Péchaud in the ranks
This exit did not fail to prompt a reaction from her champion, Édouard Philippe, who saw fit to intervene. Even if it meant breaking the silence he imposes on national issues. “On the evening of the first round, I will do everything I can to ensure that we come together and have an alternative in Paris, with a great gathering of the right and the center,” corrected the former prime minister, a declared candidate for the 2027 presidential election, to AFP.
In addition to the Parisian battle, Rachida Dati’s resignation also reshuffles the government lineup, where Emmanuel Macron and Sébastien Lecornu will now have to make the “adjustments” discussed in recent times. If the name of Catherine Péchaud, cultural advisor to the president at the Elysée, is mentioned for the Ministry of Culture, at least one other position may also need to be filled: the portfolio of disabled persons, whose current holder is on the way out.
