The densely dog-populated city will soon elect a new mayor and candidates want pet-owners on their side
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n a race that is expected to come down to a few thousand votes, every last one counts – including, for the candidates seeking to become the next mayor of Paris, those of the French capital’s disgruntled dog owners.
Both favourites in Sunday’s second-round vote, the leftwing frontrunner Emmanuel Grégoire and the former conservative culture minister, Rachida Dati, have promised an array of canine-friendly measures if they win – and for good reason.
In the last city council elections, in 2020, about 57,000 votes separated the winner, outgoing Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, from her closest rival, Dati. This year’s race is expected to be tighter still and Paris has more than 100,000 dogs.
