Paris (AFP)

The seven main candidates for mayor of Paris meet Tuesday evening five days before the first round of municipal elections, for a final televised debate during which they will try to stand out.

In particular, the three favorites of the ballot, the outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo (PS), the mayor of the 7th arrondissement Rachida Dati (LR) and the former minister Agnès Buzyn (LREM), who will try to make the difference from 9:05 p.m. on France 3 Paris Ile-de-France, Franceinfo and France Bleu Paris.

According to a new Ipsos-Sopra Steria survey released on Tuesday, Ms. Hidalgo (26%, +1) widens the gap over Ms. Dati (23%, -1), while Ms. Buzyn is stable at 19%. The other participants in the debate, David Belliard (EELV, 11%), Cédric Villani (ex-LREM, 7%), Danielle Simonnet (LFI, 4.5%) and Serge Federbusch (supported by the RN, 4%), follow far behind.

Tuesday evening, the outgoing PS mayor will have two objectives, according to his campaign director, Emmanuel Grégoire, namely "get out of the balance sheet and move on to the project".

Rachida Dati, after having suspended her decision for a long time, finally agreed to participate in the debate, the day after a meeting attended by Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr. Belliard, who like Ms. Hidalgo canceled his last meeting because of the coronavirus, denounced the "irresponsibility" of the maintenance of this public meeting by the candidate LR.

As for Agnès Buzyn, we hope that the evening will make it possible to discover "a pugnacious woman who knows the subjects well", according to her campaign director, Paul Midy.

She "expects significant baseness" during the debate, he adds, while Ms. Hidalgo taunted Sunday in the JDD a candidate who "comes to have fun blowing wind", saying that "the Parisian election n is not the Star Ac ".

Monday morning on LCI, Rachida Dati in turn mocked the former Minister of Health, saying that "Paris does not need a nanny" while Ms. Buzyn keeps repeating her wish to "appease" the capital.

Denouncing the absence of plurality, the eighth candidate in this Parisian election, Marcel Campion, had seized the administrative court after the decision of France Televisions not to invite him to the debate. But justice has dismissed the "king of the fairgrounds".

© 2020 AFP