Emmanuel Grégoire Officially Elected Mayor of Paris Following Left-Wing Victory

Emmanuel Grégoire, a Socialist politician and former first deputy to Anne Hidalgo, was elected mayor of Paris on Sunday, March 29, 2026, receiving 103 (votes) — council votes securing Grégoire's election as mayor out of 163 councilors in a solemn vote at the Paris Council. The 48-year-old succeeds Hidalgo, who served two terms spanning 12 years, and beat conservative rival Rachida Dati by nine points in the second round of municipal elections the previous Sunday, winning with more than 50 percent of the vote. Grégoire led a left-wing unity list comprising Socialists, ecologists, Communists, Place Publique, and L'Après, but deliberately excluded La France Insoumise from the coalition. After the vote, Grégoire escorted Hidalgo out of the Hôtel de Ville, where she departed in tears to applause from an honor guard, closing a chapter in Parisian political history.

Periscolaire scandal tops new mayor's urgent agenda Grégoire declared in his inaugural speech that reforming periscolaire — the city's after-school care system — would be his "first battle," following a wave of sexual violence cases involving educators assigned to Paris primary schools. He called for zero tolerance and a full review of all recruitment procedures in the sector.

„The real fight starts now. And the first of them is periscolaire! We must start everything over from the beginning. We must turn the table over. We must identify those who have been guilty. We must protect our children.” — Emmanuel Grégoire via BFMTV

Grégoire promised immediate measures and said he was planning new steps as early as the following week, including meetings with parent collectives. He also acknowledged the city's high debt as a pressing concern, following warnings from state financial oversight bodies. On the legacy of his predecessor, he was generous in his inaugural remarks, praising Hidalgo's courage and also honoring Bertrand Delanoë, the first Socialist mayor of Paris. His new executive of 36 deputies, including 35 alongside First Deputy Lamia El Aaraje, was sworn in the same day, with Grégoire describing the team as one he wanted to be "close and hard-working."

Seven-year term set to sidestep 2032 presidential clash Grégoire's term will run for seven years rather than the standard six, a deliberate adjustment to prevent the next municipal elections from coinciding with the 2032 French presidential election. Lamia El Aaraje, first federal secretary of the Socialist Party in Paris and a former deputy for urban planning under Hidalgo, was designated First Deputy Mayor by the council. Grégoire committed to continuing Hidalgo's signature environmental policies, including the expansion of bicycle lanes, pedestrianization of streets, and measures discouraging private vehicle use. His coalition holds 103 of the 163 council seats, ten more than the left held under the previous term.

Key moments in the Paris mayoral transition: — ; — ; —

Dati leads fractured right, LFI takes opposition bench The right-wing opposition entered the new council in a weakened and fragmented state, with Rachida Dati heading a group of 32 elected officials under the banner "Paris, Liberté!" — down from 65 seats the right held in 2020. Dati was absent from Sunday's session for health reasons, prompting Grégoire to say his office would be open as soon as she returned. A separate centrist group of 11 councilors from Pierre-Yves Bournazel's list, which had merged with Dati's in the second round, formed their own faction called "Paris apaisé," while the MoDem group led by Maud Gatel retained eight seats independently. On the far left, nine LFI councilors took their seats in opposition, led by Sophia Chikirou, who had received nearly 8 percent of the vote in the second round according to La Libre.be, or 11.7 percent according to El Periódico. Grégoire said he was "not at all apprehensive" about Chikirou's opposition and expressed a willingness to work with both her and Dati.

Anne Hidalgo became the first woman to serve as mayor of Paris when she was elected in 2014. Her two terms were marked by the November 2015 terrorist attacks in which 130 people were killed in Paris, the hosting of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, and a sustained push to make the city more bicycle-friendly and to restore swimming in the Seine. Hidalgo had previously served as first deputy mayor from 2001 to 2014. Emmanuel Grégoire served as her first deputy from 2018 to 2024 before leaving for the National Assembly, and the two had a falling-out before Hidalgo endorsed him only at the last moment in the 2026 campaign.