Paris (AFP)

The announcement of Anne Hidalgo's candidacy completes the launch of the Battle of Paris, which is made all the more uncertain due to possible alliances in the "third round" as some candidates discuss secretly between two trips to the field.

"This campaign will be done a lot on the proposals," says Jean-Louis Missika, president of "Paris en Commun", platform of support for Anne Hidalgo, composed of socialists, communists, elected Generations, former ecologists and personalities from civil society. .

Who can win? In a last poll published by Ifop in December, Anne Hidalgo is ahead, with 22.5% of the voting intentions, the LREM candidate Benjamin Griveaux (17%), the LR Rachida Dati (17%), the dissident LREM Cédric Villani (14 %) and environmentalist David Belliard (12.5%).

Last entering the campaign on Saturday, the former Labor Inspector intends to maintain her advantage with a busy menu: accommodation on Wednesday, health on Thursday, and daily trips before the official presentation of the program on February 6, with a meeting .

"Are we still under the pedal? The answer is yes!" Enthuses his campaign manager and head of the list in the 12th arrondissement, Emmanuel Grégoire, to the press, who ensures that the three the coming weeks will be punctuated by "strong announcements". But "for the effect + blast +, we have to wait a bit", assures AFP a relative of the outgoing PS mayor.

Opposite, it is the reign of "the confusion and the multiplicity of the candidatures", tackles Mr. Missika, frightened that "today, one does not know who is the main adversary of Anne Hidalgo".

- "Spendthrift" -

For the past eight months, and the first negotiations, ten candidates (including the current mayor) have been on the starting line.

"The reality is simple: if we continue each in our corridor, none of our proposals will be implemented since the re-election of the outgoing mayor will be acquired", wrote Tuesday Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Act, center right) to the official candidate LREM Benjamin Griveaux, and the dissident Cédric Villani who still refuses to meet his rival.

The extended hand, in December, of David Belliard (EELV) to Cédric Villani for the creation of a "coalition for the climate" did not find more echo, and always causes misunderstanding among the environmental activists and left partners .

Remain elected MoDem, who after having declined the proposal to join the camp of Anne Hidalgo, must still choose between Cédric Villani and Benjamin Griveaux by the end of January.

This election "is not as usual and includes many more unknowns," judges AFP's elected representative of Generation.s in the nineteenth arrondissement, Léa Filoche, who wonders about the consequences in the "Alliances between adversaries or adversaries (with allies)" campaign.

Convinced that none of these personalities will obtain an absolute majority in the third round on March 28, during the vote of the councilors of Paris for the mayor of Paris, some want to believe in their luck in a fourth round and move forward as a unifier, like the ex-communicator of François Hollande, Gaspard Gantzer (candidate of "Parisiennes, Parisiens"), and Pierre-Yves Bournazel.

Ambitions also lent to Emmanuel Grégoire who, for his part, categorically denied being part of the contenders and denouncing "malicious rumors" to AFP.

"It's surreal!", Gets angry close to Macron, denouncing a maneuver "completely undemocratic". "We cannot elect a mayor who did not appear before the voters."

"It's totally absurd!", Abounds Jean-Louis Missika, recalling that "the proportional voting system with a majority bonus" makes impossible the case where "the Council of Paris is ungovernable" and where a new round is needed of votes, to obtain "a mayor of Paris coming out of a surprise pocket and not ballot boxes".

Rumors are on the rise, in all camps. "The baskets are pierced in others", quipped Mr. Grégoire on Monday in front of a press, dumbfounded. According to him, "at Benjamin Griveaux, we are given a lot of information about Cédric Villani; and at Cédric Villani, we are given a lot of information about Benjamin Griveaux".

© 2020 AFP