Michel Barnier has been elected MP for Paris in the second round of a by-election, which returns him to the National Assembly that less than a year ago ousted him as Prime Minister in a confidence vote.
Barnier, of the centre-right party Les Républicains won over 62 percent of the vote in the second round Sunday, defeating Socialist candidate Frédérique Bredin, a former Sports Minister under François Mitterrand, who secured 38 percent.
The seat, which represents Paris’ second constituency, which stretches along the Seine, from the Latin Quarter to the Eiffel Tower, was left open in July after Jean Laussucq’s 2024 victor was annulled over campaign finance irregularities.
Both rounds of voting were marked by low turnout, with only 24 percent of registered voters casting ballots on Sunday.
Bredin said the low turnout revealed “a real crisis of democracy”.
Former French PM on course for comeback as Paris by-election frontrunner
Barnier, who served as Prime Minister for just three months, from September to December 2024, when he lost a confidence vote over his budget proposals, becomes the first Les Républicains MP in Paris since 2022.
Though known as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Barnier has long been known in France as an MP, senator and local councillor in the southeastern Savoie region.
He justified his candidacy in Paris because he has lived in the capital for the past 12 years.
(with newswires)
