Paris: Villani assures Macron that his candidacy would not be an "act of defiance"

Paris (AFP)

LREM Deputy Cédric Villani assured Monday to Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe that his possible dissident candidacy for municipal elections in Paris would not be the expression of a "mistrust" towards them, AFP learned from his entourage.

"Cédric Villani informed the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister that he would make a statement to Parisians this Wednesday, September 4 at 19h and that his decision was in no way an act of distrust vis-à-vis their action, "said Baptiste Fournier, Villani's campaign director for the inauguration on the march.

Benjamin Griveaux, unanimously chosen by the members of the National Investiture Commission in July to represent LREM in March 2020, proposed to Cédric Villani to "co-pilot" the presidential party's campaign, "both on the background and on incarnation ". But the MP for Essonne, whose possible alternative bid agitates Macronie for weeks, has declined the proposal.

In another message sent Monday to Mr. Griveaux and the boss of LREM Stanislas Guerini, the mathematician assures them that his statement coming Wednesday "would not be against LREM".

But he deplores that "the current operation is (not) able to fulfill the conditions allowing Parisians to gather around a project for the future and innovative".

Villani will officially announce Wednesday at 19:00 his "intentions" for Paris, in this case a dissenting candidacy, or not, to get out of the duel announced between the outgoing PS Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Benjamin Griveaux, even to fragment the vote on the march in the capital.

The prospect of a possible candidacy of Cédric Villani raises the question of his exclusion from the party.

On Sunday, the head of LREM deputies Gilles Le Gendre, while supporting Mr Griveaux, said he was hostile to "any form of exclusion or punishment vis-à-vis Cédric Villani or vis-à-vis his potential support, "if he presented himself.

© 2019 AFP