Emmanuel Grégoire, the Socialist candidate for mayor of Paris, debates with Parisians at Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad, in the city's 19th arrondissement, on Sunday, February 22, 2026. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
The debate exercise was as unprecedented an exercise as it was a risky one. On a small stage, a café table, a tall stool and a standing microphone were set up and made open to anyone who wished to question MP Emmanuel Grégoire, the Socialist candidate for mayor of Paris. Three weeks ahead of the municipal elections, Grégoire's main opponent, conservative candidate Rachida Dati (from the Les Républicains party), was still refusing to participate in a debate before the first electoral round, and so he organized his own Q&A session with Parisians on Sunday, February 22.
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Paris mayoral election campaign gets bogged down in controversy
"For weeks, I have proposed a debate. For weeks, Rachida Dati has refused. I will not back down. Since I can't debate with her, let's debate together," Grégoire said at the start of the week. Under Sunday's ominous grey sky, about 500 people answered the candidate's call and met him at the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad in Paris's 19th arrondissement. While the crowd included many activists, candidates and elected officials from Grégoire's left-wing coalition, and the event took place in a neighborhood that the Socialists have held since 1995, the candidate's exercise largely delivered on the sincerity it promised. For an hour and a half, around 30 speakers, none of whom had signed up in advance, though some did not hide their sympathy for Grégoire, took the microphone to question the candidate about their concerns.
