The mayor’s seat in Paris is a highly coveted position. Seen as a springboard to the presidency, it is considered one of the most powerful offices in France. Despite the fact municipal elections aren’t until 2014, the country is awash with speculation about who will replace current Mayor Bertrand Delanoë when his term expires next year, reports France 24.
First elected in 2001, Delanoë, a socialist, has used his position as mayor of France’s capital to introduce a number of ambitious social programmes and reforms. Although Delanoë has enjoyed relative popularity over the years, he has ruled out running for a third term in office and will step down as mayor when the time comes.
While that day is still a way off, political hopefuls are already vying for the seat, steeling themselves for the long battle ahead. In a calculated move, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (pictured above), a member of the right-wing UMP party, announced her candidacy on Friday in the French daily Le Parisien – more than a week before she was expected to.
“It wasn’t a simple decision, and it took me a long time to make. But it comes from a real commitment, a serious commitment, to which I will devote all my heart and energy,” said Kosciusko-Morizet, a spokesperson for former president Nicolas Sarkozy during his failed 2012 re-election campaign.
French media have speculated that Kosciusko-Morizet’s decision to declare her bid early was prompted by rumours earlier in the week that the head of the newly-formed centre-right UDI party, Jean-Louis Borloo, was deliberating running as well. Borloo has since said he will not join the race, but did not exclude the possibility of another UDI candidate.
Borloo, who served as a cabinet minister under former presidents Jacques Chirac and Sarkozy, is only one of several political heavyweights from the centre or right who have mulled throwing their hats into the ring.
Read more of this report from France 24.