Far-right politician Sarah Knafo at the Coordination Rurale union stand at the Paris International Agricultural Show, on February 21, 2026. CYRIL BITTON/DIVERGENCE FOR LE MONDE
Sarah Knafo has made her platform a core argument of her campaign for mayor of Paris: the far-right Reconquête party candidate has boasted of having "the most ambitious agenda," one she claims to have "calculated with the utmost rigor." Her "manifesto for a happy city" is a 130-page document, printed in large type and packaged as a glossy, bright yellow hardcover book. Yet a close reading of her platform reveals dubious calculations, underestimated expenses and unrealistic savings.
One of her flagship proposals is the construction of a "magnificent promenade" stretching 2 kilometers above Paris's Seine riverbank roadways, which she plans to reopen to car traffic. As Bernard Landau, urban planner and honorary architect-surveyor for Paris City Hall (where he worked until 2014), explained to Le Monde, Knafo's platform raises several regulatory and technical issues.
The Seine riverbanks are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and thereby protected, and the project would require "cutting down more than 100 large trees." While Knafo has insisted the promenade could be built "with a very simple structure": "a portico supported by a line of arches on the Seine side and on the existing quay wall on the street side." However, as Landau pointed out, "That's not possible. This wall was not designed to support a portico, unless it is reinforced," especially since "it sits on the current riverside expressway, which, in turn, rests on piles that would almost certainly need reinforcing."
