Mayor of Paris Hidalgo, green alliance confident ahead of second round voting

The current mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo is firmly in the lead ahead of the second round of municipal elections on 28 June, according to a new opinion poll. Her recent alliance with Green candidate David Belliard means a step closer to her ambitions of making the capital more bicycle-friendly than ever.

The Covid-19 crisis has reinforced for many voters the importance of the environment and health in the city's future policies.

Incumbent socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo said she was overwhelmed by the success of the 50 kilometres of newly created cycle paths introduced to facilitate the lifting of lockdown on 11 May, and promised to turn it into a permanent feature of the city.

"Parisians have really taken to it," she told France Inter radio.

"Lots of people are now avoiding the metro, the motorbike or the car and favouring their bike."

• 44 percent increase in bicycle use

The move towards the environment as an important issue is reflected in the results from the new opinion poll conducted by Ifop-Fiducial and Sud Radio, published in the Sunday weekly, Journal du Dimanche, the first poll since the deadline for electoral lists on 2 June.

44 percent of those questioned in the poll said they would vote for Hidalgo and her newly created alliance with the Green candidate David Belliard (EELV), under the name "Paris in Common, Ecology for Paris".

Belliard's list, which received 10,8 percent of votes in the first round of municipal elections on 15 March, hopes to benefit from a strengthened position after from joining forces with Hidalgo, both leaders on the same page when it comes to environmental policies.

They are well in front of the conservative Republican candidate Rachida Dati, on 33 percent of vote intentions with her list "Engaged to Change Paris".

Second round June 28
In third place, Agnès Buzyn, the ruling LREM party candidate received 20 percent of vote intentions ahead of the second round of local elections on 28 June.

Buzyn's "Paris Together" list is comprised of candidates from the ruling LREM party, Mo-dem and UDI.

Around three percent of Parisians interviewed said they would vote for another list, either the one headed up by Cédric Villani (ex-LREM) or the far-left list lead by Danielle Simonnet (LFI, France Unbowed).

The opinion poll was carried out between 2-5 June, with 974 eligible Parisian voters, according to a method of quotas, with a margin of error estimated at 1.4 – 3.1 points.

Vote intentions are not to be confused with a previsional election result, they simply reflect public opinion at the time of the poll.