After Michel Barnier, the partial legislative elections in Paris arouse the interest of Rachida Dati

How flattering were those words written in his latest book, What I Learned from You , published in June… Rachida Dati? “She’s a woman who wants it ,” says Michel Barnier. “She has character and sometimes anger. […] True to her roots, she made herself with ambition, nerve, and work. She’s not ordinary, even when she upsets or provokes.” Twenty-four hours after his announcement of candidacy for a by-election in Paris , did the former Prime Minister receive a “vengeful or threatening” text message, an old habit of the Sarkozy supporter , as he writes in his pages?

Upon learning the news during François Bayrou's press conference on Tuesday, July 15, on the savings measures for the next budget , Dati was "furious," reports a minister present: "She was getting animated on her phone." According to information from Le Parisien published on Wednesday, July 16, the Minister of Culture is about to launch the electoral campaign. This by-election was caused by the Constitutional Council's invalidation of the July 2024 election of Jean Laussucq, a close associate of Dati. Golden, according to specialists in the Parisian electoral map, the capital's second constituency has since aroused covetousness... The vote must take place by October.

When contacted, the Minister of Culture's entourage did not respond to Libération , but told Le Parisien that Dati "will assume her responsibilities in this by-election which has come about unexpectedly" and that she has asked to "be heard" by the National Investiture Commission (CNI) of the Republicans. "At the very least, a lot of pressure is being put on Barnier and those who support him," commented an LR advisor in the capital.

At Les Républicains, no one has confirmed Dati's candidacy. An advisor points to the party's visual published after Barnier's candidacy was announced: "Our next MP. Michel Barnier is a candidate in the by-elections in Paris's second constituency." The choice will have to be made by the CNI and its leader, Annie Genevard. The next meeting of the body is scheduled for July 28. The possibility of a match between the former Prime Minister and Nicolas Sarkozy's former minister is already making fans of LR-made farce salivate. And it raises questions... What interest would Dati have in running herself to succeed the outgoing MP, her former chief of staff, whom she had placed? "Who says parliamentarian, says immunity..." whispers an LR district representative. A motivation for the minister embroiled in several legal cases ?

Already a declared candidate for Paris mayor to succeed Anne Hidalgo, Dati could also take a dim view of the establishment of an LR heavyweight in her stronghold of the 7th arrondissement. It could even be a shadow over the 2026 municipal elections, while Barnier makes no secret of his national ambitions... "She understood that if she leaves him, it's the royal road for him to the mayoralty ," suggests an LR collaborator. "So she's going to kill him with her bare hands, knife between her teeth. Barnier is the bourgeois grandpa, incapable of winning an election for years... Against the political beast who plays at home? Dati gets the machine going in the 7th [arrondissement] and she splits it open." Atmosphere. The 2009 European campaign, during which Dati and Barnier led the UMP majority list in Ile-de-France together , seems a long time ago...

Those who remember the turmoil within the fragile "common base" during the early legislative elections of 2024 and the defeats by the spade of the Parisian right since 2001 , are biting their fingers. "They're all going to get on each other's nerve and we're going to leave the capital more divided than ever, without a unanimous candidate, appointed in a hurry in October ," anticipates an LR executive. " We will have done everything to lose. "

The Macronists are also hesitant, even though they risk losing a seat in the affair. Not to mention that part of the presidential camp is reluctant to be represented in Paris by the divisive Minister of Culture ... "[Gabriel] Attal handled it badly ," the same minister sneers. " He should have pre-empted both constituencies [another Macronist MP, Stéphane Vojetta, was forced to resign after the Constitutional Council's decision, handed down on July 11, editor's note] ." The Macronists are not particularly fond of Barnier's charge, which is being carried out in a cavalier fashion... "He says he wants to unite locally and politically, but he's going there without having spoken to Gabriel and against Dati," ruminates a close friend of Attal. The hope of a Renaissance candidate still animates the Macronists. "Barnier crushes everything ," the same minister nevertheless acknowledges. "We can't run against him, we'll get crushed." But the Savoyard must not give up on throwing himself into the deep end.