"My arrogance is a plaster that my opponents stick to me." "Unless I'm totally schizo, that's not what I am," explained Benjamin Griveaux in a portrait devoted to him by the Mag, in January latest.
Six months later, the image of the candidate freshly invested by the Republic running for the municipal in Paris seems chipped by the revelation of the newspaper Le Point, July 17, a private conversation where he scratches his rivals in the race to the investiture LREM. "There is a jerk every day who says he wants to be mayor of Paris," he said, among other friendly. On July 18, the entourage of Benjamin Griveaux said that "as soon as he became aware of it, (the candidate) called the people cited to apologize to them". And to add on this subject: "The subject is closed."
Apart from Mounir Mahjoubi, who told AFP that "all this does not matter" and that "we must now look to the future", the other people cited by Le Point have not yet reacted. But none of them went Thursday night at the first meeting of the candidate LREM for municipal. And despite the presence of Macronist figures - like Marlene Schiappa or Gilles Le Gendre - showing their support for Benjamin Griveaux, the evening has not dispelled the discomfort of recent days.
Cédric Villani, dissident candidate ? "Nobody can read in the coffee grounds"
"These are unworthy outputs revealing the character and his conception of human relationships," also reacts a former member LREM in the entourage of Cédric Villani, contacted by France 24. "Without the support of the Elysee as well as the National Commission of nomination (CNI) - which locked the selection procedure - never Benjamin Griveaux would have been chosen.The campaign dynamics in recent weeks was on the side of Cédric Villani. Contacted several times, Benjamin Griveaux has not yet responded to requests from France 24 at the time of publication of this article.
Despite the current troubled context, a LREM candidacy seems to have a rather fertile electoral ground in Paris: in the last European elections, in May, the electorate of the capital voted largely in favor of the party of the presidential majority, with high scores in West of Paris. But competing with the outgoing mayor, Anne Hidalgo, will be possible only "provided that the candidacy (of Benjamin Griveaux) is unifying, and if we take for granted - which is currently not the case - the vote from the right in his favor ", explains the same source to France 24.
Gathering does not seem to be the key word this week for the LREM candidate. Some rivals in his party are even happy about this bad luck. "What we laughed for weeks that he plays nice guy.He died politically," said the Parisian entourage of one of the targets of Benjamin Griveaux.
Added to this is the situation of Cédric Villani, who thought to compete with the candidate finally invested. Last week, he also preceded the official announcement of the CNI by acknowledging in a tweet that he was "clear (he) will not get (t) no investiture apparatus LREM" , not hiding his disappointment. Then the MP from Essonne decided to postpone until September his decision to support Benjamin Griveaux or not. For the moment, "he is in a state of mind of gathering his troops and thinking," explains the former member of LREM contacted by France 24. A reflection that could lead to a dissident candidacy in Paris? The same source replies that "no one can read in the coffee grounds, and if a dissident candidacy arrives, it would be only the failure of the gathering, which is the responsibility of the current candidate."