Macron picks minister to lead Paris mayor battle

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron picked his widely respected health minister on Sunday to reinvigorate a campaign to win over Paris City Hall that fell apart when his previous candidate pulled out over a sexting scandal.

Less than a month before mayoral elections, in which opinion polls expect Macron’s party to fare poorly, Macron is keen to turn his fortunes around in the capital, where voters have given him good scores in the past.

His new candidate, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, a doctor who has been leading France’s response to the coronavirus, told reporters she was throwing herself into the race to win.

She will pick up the baton from Benjamin Griveaux, one of the “Macron boys” who helped propel the former investment banker into power in 2017. Griveaux, who is married, was forced to give up after sexual images he sent to a woman were published online.

Russian dissident artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who has lived in exile in France since 2017, said he published a video of Griveaux, to expose the “hypocrisy”.

Griveaux has not disputed that he sent the messages and the video.

Pavlensky and his girlfriend, who French media said was the recipient of Griveaux’s texts, were arrested on Saturday and were held for questioning on Sunday over possible charges of privacy violation, the prosecutor’s office said.

French politicians denounced the leak of private material, which many said constituted an unacceptable Americanisation of politics in France. – Reuters