Lucie Castets, a former left-wing candidate for prime minister in 2024, has been named lead candidate for Paris's 12th arrondissement mayoralty, replacing ecologist Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie. The outgoing mayor withdrew her candidacy amid accusations of toxic management. The change comes two days before the deadline for submitting candidate lists in the municipal elections.
Lucie Castets, 38 years old and affiliated with the ecologists, has agreed to head the left-wing union's list – excluding La France insoumise – for the 12th arrondissement mayoralty in Paris. She thus replaces Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, the outgoing Ecologistes mayor, who announced her withdrawal on Instagram on Tuesday, February 24. Ms. Pierre-Marie justified her decision by stating that "the conditions to lead a serene campaign focused on residents are no longer met".
This replacement follows an investigation by Mediapart published a week earlier, portraying the 12th arrondissement town hall as a "pressure cooker, plagued by workplace suffering and departures". According to the outlet, 16 staff members left Ms. Pierre-Marie's cabinet in less than five years. The ecologist mayor, in turn, accused the Parisian Socialist Party of not accepting that an Ecologistes figure took over the town hall.
Castets's campaign team confirmed the news, noting that she also replaces Ms. Pierre-Marie on the central list, where the latter was in 8th position. An Ecologistes spokesperson in Paris stated that the City of Paris's general inspection and the party's internal listening and guidance cell have been seized to probe the matter. In a statement from the previous Sunday, the Parisian Ecologistes leadership asserted that "no work situation should allow the behaviors described" in the press.
This episode occurs amid Paris's municipal elections, with the candidate list submission deadline approaching.
