Moroccan-Born Digital Secretary Mahjoubi Announces Paris Mayoral Bid

"Yes, I will be a candidate for the nomination. Some don’t dare to say it, but we shouldn’t have false modesty. I will be a candidate as soon as the nomination process is opened," Mahjoubi, who is part of LREM (La République en Marche) ranks, said in an interview with Le Parisien on March 7, speaking of his ambition to run for mayor of Paris. The current mayor is Anne Hidalgo, from the PS (Socialist Party).

If elected, Mahjoubi places housing issues at the top of his priorities, he says, "starting with those who are on the street". According to Mounir Mahjoubi, Paris would be the most beautiful city in the world "but something is not working". In addition, he wants there to be cleaning agents in every neighborhood. Another point, Mahjoubi wants there to be "a Paris police force that is in permanent dialogue with citizens and capable of doing what the national police cannot do: for example, come back cold the next day after an incident to talk to people about it".

However, this has somewhat irritated the Elysée, as he apparently did not inform anyone of his intention to run for the Paris municipal elections. Le Parisien wrote on this subject: "He took everyone by surprise! It took the article published on the Le Parisien website, Wednesday evening, for Emmanuel Macron to discover the official entry of Mounir Mahjoubi into the campaign for the municipal elections in Paris. Because the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs did not bother to warn the Elysée, nor Matignon, of his initiative... The Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, learned the news live on the BFMTV set". The Prime Minister would have immediately summoned him for a one-on-one meeting.

However, Mahjoubi revealed that Edouard Philippe did not scold him at all. Le Parisien reveals his words: "We talked about what he expected from my commitment as a minister. He would have appreciated if I had warned him of an interview like this, but I didn’t have the impression of making a political move."

Benjamin Griveaux or even Cédric Villani are serious candidates he will most likely have to face.