The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was invested Thursday evening October 14 by the activists of the Socialist Party (PS) to be their candidate for the presidential election of 2022, according to partial results communicated by the party at the end of 'an internal vote.

According to results covering more than 90% of the ballots, Anne Hidalgo, who was widely favorite, obtained more than 72% of the votes, against her only challenger, the mayor of Le Mans Stéphane le Foll, announced the first secretary Olivier Faure. , indicating an "irreversible result".

"Everyone mobilized to prepare the alternation, let's go, let's go," said Anne Hidalgo, in front of several dozen activists and supporters, such as the president of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis Stéphane Troussel or the Paris senator Rémi Féraud, gathered in a brasserie in the twentieth arrondissement of the capital.

"I measure the responsibility incumbent on me", said the Parisian councilor, saying "proud and honored to wear the colors of our party".

"I wear the colors of a left of government", "which assumes the exercise of power and responsibilities," she added.

A campaign that promises to be "difficult" 

Credited by the polls of 4 to 7% of the vote, Anne Hidalgo was engaged in the battle for 2022 without waiting for this nomination, which she knew almost acquired since she has for months the support of the authorities of the party, including Olivier Faure.

During the recent PS congress, the latter also judged that the candidate would "probably have a very large majority".

Hailing the "quiet strength" of Anne Hidalgo, the latter recognized that the campaign would be "difficult" and that "nobody wants our victory", but "we will accompany you", he assured.

Stéphane Le Foll was under no illusions: "The mass is said", he admitted to AFP, denouncing the lack of debate with the mayor of Paris, whose project he considers "incoherent" and " indefinite".

Anne Hidalgo invited him to join her in the campaign, because "his political family needs him and his commitment".

The party is now in order of battle behind its candidate, with an investiture convention on October 23 in Lille, stronghold of Martine Aubry, her political mentor.

The opportunity for a first meeting to ring "collective mobilization", with some heavyweights of the PS announced.

But without François Lamy, ex-minister of François Hollande, who has just announced that he is joining the campaign of Yannick Jadot, a direct competitor.

Lille will "bring together the different generations of the socialist family", assures its campaign manager, Johanna Rolland.

A discreet start to the campaign

Anne Hidalgo's opponents believe that she missed her entry into the presidential race.

"You are at 4%, subscribed to 4% and you will not go further," he again launched Wednesday the former minister The Republicans (LR) Rachida Dati in full Council of Paris, mocking "a desperate electoral campaign and hopeless ".

In fact, the mayor of Paris has been rather discreet since the formalization of her candidacy on September 12 in Rouen.

His relatives defend the "bias" of a start to the campaign "with low noise, on the merits, on the ground", and promise a "rise in power".

But Olivier Faure warns: "From next weekend, there will be posters pasted, leaflets (especially in Ile-de-France). I fully expect that the entry into the campaign of the Socialists will produce some effects."

The entourage of Anne Hidalgo ensures that there is "no species of concern or reluctance" around her candidacy, while on the environmental side, some already dream of seeing her rally Yannick Jadot, for the moment slightly higher in the polls.

"In his party, we see executives who say 'we'll see you soon', who leave the door open," notes a responsible Europe Ecology-Les-Verts (EELV).

"Anne Hidalgo is very determined and will be able to prove that she is in the game", answers Johanna Rolland.

"The bet we are making is that in the end, we will ask ourselves, on the left, who is ready to govern. Anne Hidalgo is the only one to have these qualities", adds Olivier Faure.

The mayor of Paris assures herself that she "will go to the end".

She must go to a maternity hospital on Friday morning to support the midwives fighting for more recognition, then fly to Spain, to talk about ecology at the Congress of the Spanish Socialist Party in Valencia.

With AFP

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