Paris (AFP)

Paris still awaits Sunday evening the lifts by district, but the outgoing mayor PS, Anne Hidalgo, seems largely at the head of a ballot whose second round is, as elsewhere, suspended to the coronavirus crisis.

According to first estimates, Anne Hidalgo would point at the top with 30% of the voting intentions and a larger difference than expected on the candidate LR Rachida Dati (22%), before the representative of the presidential majority Agnès Buzyn (17 to 18% ) and environmentalist David Belliard (between 11 and 12%).

Follow the dissident and ex-LREM Cédric Villani (between 6.7 and 8%) and the Insubordinate Danielle Simonnet (between 4.5 and 5%), according to the Ipsos / Sopra Steria surveys for France Télévisions, Radio France and LCP and Ifop-Fiducial for M6 and Sud Radio.

For Anne Hidalgo, the outgoing bonus therefore seems to be working and makes it difficult to elect her main challenger Rachida Dati, who nevertheless outstripped her several times in terms of voting intentions. In addition, the candidate on the right sorely lacks reserve of votes for the second round, which makes it even more complicated a victory.

As for walkers, the former Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn has failed to lie the polls and stagnates below 20%. However, the candidate who entered the campaign barely a month ago still believes in her chances and is already laying "the first milestones for alliances by sector", according to those around her.

In Anne Hidalgo's camp, we also hope to forge alliances quickly. Still it is necessary that the second round is held, which is uncertain. The brutal acceleration of the coronavirus epidemic raises fears of a postponement that would de facto cancel the entire election.

In a tweet Sunday evening at 8 p.m., Anne Hidalgo asked "the government to specify as of (Sunday) evening all the essential additional measures which will make it possible to protect the French in the face of the major health crisis".

In the entourage of the outgoing mayor, Jean-Louis Missika warned at midday: "The peak transmission will be in the middle of the week, but we will not accept that the first round is canceled!".

"For the second round, there are plenty of solutions such as postal voting which would allow a reasonable time to be met," he said.

- No Novotel -

In Agnes Buzyn's camp, also in the middle of the day, we "did not believe" in the cancellation of the election, but the situation is changing from hour to hour and the decision is expected at the start of the week, in concert with scientists promised the Prime Minister.

Uncertainty therefore completely upsets the inter-turn rally, crucial in the Parisian election and its 17 sectors where so many elections are played.

The campaign director of the ecologist David Belliard, Hélène Bracon, warned that "if we do not know what is going on for the second round tonight, we will not negotiate with anyone, nor (Anne) Hidalgo, neither (ex-LREM Cédric) Villani, nor (Insoumise Danielle) Simonnet ".

Ironically, the Novotel where any negotiations were to take place "puts us out. We no longer have a place to negotiate," she added, admitting to dreading very difficult results in Paris: "I I’m afraid we’re falling like shit. I think Hidalgo scores very well. "

"All the staff are asking the question of whether we are negotiating tonight or not," also whispered a source close to Villani, who does not seem to have managed to shake up the deal as he expected.

© 2020 AFP