Municipal elections: the stakes of the battle for Paris

Accommodation

In Paris, where rents have continued to rise and where the rental supply is dwindling with nearly one in five homes vacant, the left-right divide is crystallizing around social housing.

Emmanuel Grégoire, the leading left-wing candidate outside of La France Insoumise (LFI), pledges to create 60.000 public housing units (social and affordable), rebalance housing development in the west, and wants to ban new second homes. His LFI opponent, Sophia Chikirou, who accuses the outgoing majority of having "gentrified" Paris, promises to create 80.000 public housing units and increase property taxes.

The right wing, on the other hand, proposes a cost-cutting measure to stop "costly" pre-emptions, in order to invest in renovation.

Rachida Dati, the LR and MoDem candidate, proposes a five-year property tax exemption for homes upgraded from energy efficiency ratings of G or F, and the renovation of 10.000 social housing units per year. Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons/Renaissance) promises to renovate the entire social housing stock within 10 years and to free up 60.000 units by bringing vacant or seasonal properties back onto the market.

Far-right MEP Sarah Knafo (Reconquest) wants to abolish rent controls and halve property tax.

Mobilities

Anne Hidalgo's twelve years in office have resulted in an acceleration of greening, pedestrianization and the development of cycle paths (1.500 km of linear routes).

Apart from the Reconquête candidate who wants to reopen riverside roads to traffic with a pedestrian walkway above, no program fundamentally challenges these developments.

The Socialist MP has set a target of "1.000 pedestrian streets". He plans to transform the 15 most used bus lines into "express" lines and to experiment with 24/24 metro operation.

The LFI deputy intends to municipalize the management of Vélib' and create a public cycling service.

On the ring road, where the speed limit will be reduced to 50 km/h in 2024, Mr. Grégoire's Green Party running mates want to install a pedestrian crossing. Rachida Dati wants to reinstate the 70 km/h limit, while Sarah Knafo wants to raise it to 80 km/h.

The opposition wants to "restore order" to public spaces, with Ms. Dati making pedestrians her "priority" by transforming the Seine riverbanks into a "large urban heritage park." She also wants to eliminate the limited traffic zone in central Paris.

His centre-right rival plans to eliminate 70.000 surface parking spaces and create 10.000 delivery spaces.

Safety

On the right and far right, Rachida Dati, Pierre-Yves Bournazel, Sarah Knafo, and Thierry Mariani (National Rally) advocate arming the municipal police, created in 2021 in the capital, with lethal weapons, and a significant increase in personnel, currently at 4.000, with more than half deployed in the field. They also call for an increase in the number of CCTV cameras.

Among the right's flagship measures: fences around the Champ-de-Mars (Ms. Dati), the deployment of a police officer in each metro in the evening (Mr. Bournazel), streetlights equipped with AI (Ms. Knafo) and an "anti-clandestine camp brigade" (Mr. Mariani).

Opposed to lethal weapons, Emmanuel Grégoire wants to recruit 1.000 additional agents and install mobile "kiosks" at "hot spots".

Sophia Chikirou also wants more agents and local branches within community centers.

Purity

In 2025, 71% of Parisians expressed dissatisfaction with Anne Hidalgo's record on cleanliness. Candidates on both the right and the far right want to privatize waste collection, arguing that private companies—already responsible for half of the city's districts—do a better job than the public sector. The mayor of the 7th arrondissement also intends to establish emergency response teams.

The Socialist MP wants to create anti-littering units within the municipal police force and raise fines for illegal dumping to a minimum of 500 euros. The La France Insoumise MP wants to gradually bring waste collection back under municipal control and recruit 300 additional staff.

Schools

Emmanuel Grégoire promises to adjust funding for private schools based on social diversity criteria. Rachida Dati and Sarah Knafo intend to "ensure equal treatment" between public and private schools, considering the latter to be currently disadvantaged.

In after-school programs, shaken by cases of sexual violence, all candidates pledge to prevent an adult from being left alone with a child, in a context of a lack of attractiveness of animation jobs.

Mr. Grégoire proposes to put an end to fragmented temporary contracts by recruiting 2.800 agents on continuous schedules.

Ms. Dati wants a return to the four-day week and to impose permanent pairs of facilitators as well as thorough control of facilitators, also proposed by Mr. Bournazel and Ms. Knafo - which the City claims to already do.

Pierre-Yves Bournazel wants to introduce a new regulation and promises 7.000 permanent positions for temporary activity leaders.

Sophia Chikirou wants to make 4.000 temporary workers permanent and reach 10.000 permanent staff by 2032. Sarah Knafo prefers to call on grandparents for the entertainment.