Environmentalists suffer from a chronic disease which consists of devouring each other, especially when a head sticks out, as soon as a major election is on the horizon, and of harvesting, in advance, any reasonable chance of victory. For thirty years, the list of these bad symptoms is long, we will only cite the most recent example: the last presidential election, in 2022, which forced Yannick Jadot, winner of the European Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) primary, to come to terms with Sandrine Rousseau, his runner-up, throughout a campaign never cleared of mines. Result: 4.63%. Will the Parisian municipal election of 2026 escape this accursed custom?
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On paper, obviously yes. Within a year, the method of designating the environmentalist candidate – always present in the first round since 2001 – will be fixed. ” The tradition wants us to organize a primary, with our 1,200 members who will choose their candidate. We will see if we open it to any Parisian who feels ecologist without being a member”, assures Fatoumata Koné, guarantor of unity as president of the environmental group at the Council of Paris. In fact, probably not. Four Parisian headliners are ready to be candidates and therefore to place themselves, inevitably, in one of the four corners of the ring.
Let’s start with the former MEP, Yannick Jadot, 56, who, like the others, has officially declared nothing of his intentions; he is also the one who agitates the least. As he does not want to express himself on the subject, at least before the European elections on June 9, others attribute many ulterior motives to him. The now senator from Paris, the only one of the Parisian gang to enjoy national notoriety, does not rule out the idea, but wants to feel desired. And not only by the first polls which cite him for the municipal election.
“I had the best score among environmentalists in Paris”
Only, he knows that among the Parisian Greens, his love rating is not the highest. In any case, during the campaign for his nomination in the senatorial elections, which he obtained with difficulty, he promised the militant members, eye to eye, that he did not want to be elected senator just to become mayor of Paris. But he would not be the first to go back on a campaign promise, especially if it is to rub shoulders with Anne Hidalgo or Rachida Dati.
The intentions of David Belliard, 45, are more obvious. His position as deputy at Paris City Hall in charge of the transformation of public space, transport and mobility gives him depth and experience in managing files and teams within the Parisian executive. He also knows what a municipal election looks like in Paris, he was the head of the list in the 2020 municipal elections. This is also where the problem lies. He lost sharply (10.79% in the first round), when Lyon, Bordeaux or Strasbourg elected an environmentalist councilor.
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