Paris (AFP)
The elected center-right Pierre-Yves Bournazel announced Thursday that he was rallying the candidate LREM Benjamin Griveaux for the municipal elections of March 2020 in Paris, after having called in vain for a three-way alliance with the dissident Cédric Villani.
"60 days before the election, you have to choose the interest of Paris. And to choose is sometimes to know how to give up," wrote deputy Agir in a letter, of which AFP obtained a copy. "I bring my support today to Benjamin Griveaux", added the elected official, after having made the observation that his own project, carried since the spring, "unfortunately was not heard enough".
The now ex-candidate was credited with 4% of the voting intentions in a poll commissioned by the team of Cédric Villani and revealed by the press in December.
"I am very happy that we can defend this project together", reacted Benjamin Griveaux to AFP. The former government spokesman praised the "talent", the "energy" of Mr. Bournazel and his "intimate knowledge of Paris, in particular the northeast and the popular districts so neglected by the current municipality".
In his letter, Mr. Bournazel asked Mr. Griveaux "to be free and independent, carrying a new majority of projects, open, diverse and non-partisan, in order to be able to prepare the Paris and the Grand Paris of tomorrow".
"On many subjects, (Benjamin Griveaux) has shown enthusiasm and will to make his project evolve, I am delighted, he emphasizes. He is now ready to work with the greatest strength possible and I believe it most likely to create a dynamic in order to "avoid the re-election of Anne Hidalgo."
Last week, the elected official of the 18th arrondissement had proposed an alliance of three including Mr. Villani. A proposal quickly evacuated, after an internal debate within his team, by the mathematician who highlighted his differences with Benjamin Griveaux on "ecology" and "densification", in particular.
"Me, I get along with everyone, but between them it's more complicated," Pierre-Yves Bournazel told AFP after having met the two candidates for the weekend .
© 2020 AFP