President Emmanuel Macron’s party chose his health minister to run for mayor of Paris after the release of sex videos led its initial pick to withdraw, reports Bloomberg.
The last-minute change — the mayoral election’s first round is on March 15th — is the latest setback for the French president, whose approval rating dropped to a national poll average of 32% in January.
The videos and an alleged text message exchange between Benjamin Griveaux and a woman were published on a website on Wednesday evening. Griveaux, 42, a former spokesman for Macron’s government, withdrew from the race on Friday, saying his family “doesn’t deserve that.”
La Republique En Marche, Macron’s party, picked Agnès Buzyn on Sunday as its replacement candidate, Agence France-Presse reported. She’s a party heavyweight, has served as a cabinet minister since Macron took office and has been at the centre of France’s coronavirus response.
Polls suggest that Macron’s party was already struggling in the Paris race after a former party member, mathematician Cédric Villani, refused to clear the way for Griveaux and decided to run as an independent.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a socialist, is running for re-election. Rachida Dati is the candidate of the right-wing party Les Républicains.