For the Right, City of Light May Go Dark

The office--almost as big as a tennis court at a sprawling 2,000 square feet--is the most magnificent in French political life. Not even President Jacques Chirac has a bigger one.

This spring, with elections nearly a year away, there is already a stampede to become the next occupant of this gilded expanse on the second floor of the Hotel de Ville, Paris’ city hall.

In recent years, the typical Parisian has been relatively well-to-do and has voted right-of-center in local elections. Conservatives control 14 of the city’s 20 arrondissements, or wards. But for the right, the happy years in the City of Light may be coming to an end.

“Parisians are equally divided, left and right,” said Didier Witkowski, deputy political director for the polling firm Sofres, about the current mood. “All this means Paris is a city now capable of being captured by the left.”

For the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic party, or RPR , the capital has been an electoral stronghold. According to a recent expose by reporter Laurent Valdiguie, Paris has grown into a vast political machine, providing phony jobs for hundreds of RPR faithful. Fixed bidding practices on city contracts allegedly have allowed neo-Gaullists to siphon off the equivalent of millions of dollars for their campaign chest.

How important has this city been for the French right? Before incumbent Jean Tiberi took office, the mayor was Chirac. He served three terms before becoming president in 1995.

For French conservatives, in disarray since losing early parliamentary elections in 1997, relinquishing the mayor’s office would be another stinging humiliation. To defend the RPR’s colors, four rival politicians are seeking the nomination.

Tiberi wants to run again but seems too wounded by corruption scandals to find much support, even in his own party. The most popular RPR candidate with voters seems to be the baggy-eyed former speaker of Parliament, Philippe Seguin. Also running are the courtly but bland Edouard Balladur, a onetime prime minister, and the chic Francoise de Panafieu, a former Tiberi ally who is in charge of city parks.

On the left, there was supposed to be a fight for the Socialist Party nomination, but Jack Lang withdrew after he was offered his old job as education minister. The designated Socialist candidate became Bertrand Delanoe, a party stalwart who has sat on the City Council since 1977. A poll in December found that four Parisians in 10 didn’t know who he was.

For both the RPR and the Socialists, the Paris race is an opportunity and a potential trap. The balloting will occur a year before the 2002 legislative and presidential elections. Conquering Paris could be a springboard to further victories; losing could presage further defeats.

“Neither side has an interest in nationalizing the Paris elections,” pollster Witkowski said. But he acknowledged that the French will be watching the vote closely. “If Paris falls to the left, it will be a veritable signal.”

Chirac, who is expected to run for reelection against Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in 2002, has a large stake in what happens. Tiberi, Chirac’s crony when the president was mayor, has all but threatened to tell everything he knows about alleged irregularities if he is not the RPR nominee. Nor would a victory by Seguin be good news for Chirac. The two men heartily dislike each other, and as head of the Paris political machine, Seguin would be a counterweight to Chirac in the party.

One interesting sidelight: None of the candidates, who are rivaling one another in their rhetoric about the charms and potential of Paris, is a native. Seguin and Delanoe weren’t even born in France but hail from the former French North African protectorate of Tunisia.

A pop quiz on a weekend TV news program this month also raised doubts about how much the candidates know about the daily lives of the city’s 2.1 million residents. All the candidates were asked the price of the “orange card” that many commuters buy to use the Metro and other forms of mass transit. Only Seguin gave the correct answer.