Macron ally quits Paris mayoral bid over sex videos

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Benjamin Griveaux, 42, the candidate for mayor of Paris chosen by President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party, stood down from the race on Friday after the online publication by a controversial Russian artist living in asylum in France of sexually explicit videos featuring the former government spokesman. Griveaux’s withdrawal is a major blow for the French president’s ruling party, already struggling in opinion surveys ahead of nationwide municipal elections in March.

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Benjamin Griveaux, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron who was running for election as mayor of Paris as official candidate of the president’s ruling centre-right LREM party, announced on Friday that he was stepping down from the race after the publication on the internet of compromising sex videos, and which began rapidly spreading on social media late Thursday.

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