Rachida Dati maintains her candidacy against Michel Barnier for the partial legislative election in Paris

Rachida Dati is not giving up on Michel Barnier . "The legislative elections that will take place in my constituency in the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements will be the first step in the rallying and dynamics of victory in Paris […] I invite the political forces of the right and the center to take their responsibilities. From now on, I will assume mine and I will do so until the end," she hammered home in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche .

By maintaining her candidacy, the Minister of Culture and Mayor of the 7th arrondissement is opposing the leadership of her party, Les Républicains , and is ignoring the legal proceedings against her.

At stake is the position of deputy for the 2nd constituency of Paris, vacant since the election of Macronist Jean Laussucq was invalidated by the Constitutional Council for irregularities in his campaign accounts. LR has decided to nominate Michel Barnier as its candidate. At the end of July, the president of the Paris LR federation, Agnès Evren, still hoped to reach an agreement "by the start of the school year" with Rachida Dati in order to avoid a fratricidal war.

This was without taking into account the will to fight of the one who dreams of becoming the future mayor of the capital. "I am presenting myself to the Parisians for a single objective : to win Paris and give Parisians back the city they deserve," declared Rachida Dati to the weekly, estimating that Paris "is experiencing an unprecedented crisis . " "Today, we have the historic opportunity to turn this page. We have a solid project, elected officials established in all the arrondissements and the energy to transform our capital," she added, calling for "all the forces of the right and the center to be united around a common project."

Excluded from the Republicans in 2024 after being recruited in January 2024 by Gabriel Attal to join his government as Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati has resumed her card at LR. For his part, Michel Barnier stressed at the beginning of August that he was not "a candidate for anything other than deputyship" .

Rachida Dati, 59, must match this electoral agenda with her legal agenda: she was sent to trial on July 22 for corruption and influence peddling, suspected of having received €900,000 between 2010 and 2012 for consulting services with a subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, but without having actually worked, even though she was a lawyer and a member of the European Parliament. She has appealed the decision.

The exact date of the trial is expected to be set at a first hearing scheduled for September 29. The legislative elections are scheduled for September 21 and 28. The municipal elections are scheduled for next March.