For the second time, the socialist Anne Hidalgo of Spanish origin and French nationality prevailed again as mayor of Paris.
Anne Hidalgo was re-elected as mayor of the city of Paris. / Photo: instagram.com/annehidalgo
The Woman Post | Maria Lourdes Zimmermann
Listen to this article
Leer en español: Anne Hidalgo, la primera inmigrante en convertirse en alcaldesa de París
Surpassing suffrage by 50 percent against former conservative minister Rachida Dati, with 31 percent of the vote, and also former "Macronist" minister Agnès Buzyn, with 14 percent, the socialist rose to power with the support of the Europe Ecology-The Greens party, which gained strong influence across the country in recent voting.
"This victory makes sense because it is collective," said Hidalgo, who recalled that she attended the second round allied with environmentalists and will be under the administration and management of the city until 2026.
"We are going to build a kinder Paris, where you can live better, breathe better, and a more caring Paris, that does not leave anyone on the road," she said in her speech delivered in front of the City Council after the victory, confirming the objectives of the new stage of his government known as Paris in Common.
In her ratification as Mayor, Hidalgo maintains the line of a social government and with an already recognized environmentalist line in which she bets on the use of the bicycle, the pedestrianization of Paris in order to improve air quality in the city and continue contributing to the construction of a more sustainable and environmentally friendly city, in addition to maintaining its feminist line.
Also read: Women's crusade against COVID19 in India
Who is Anne Hidalgo?
Ana María Hidalgo was born in the Spanish city of San Fernando, in the province of Cádiz and arrived in France at the age of two, she does not speak much about her private life, she is rather hermetic when faced with the subject.
Mother of three children, with two marriages, graduated in labor law with a successful political life, Anne, does not like cooking, nor bulls and wild parties, she is familiar and she loves rock from the 60s, her favorite music. She says that she would have liked to be a singer and also a journalist, but she decided to get a law degree because she preferred independence.
Her second marriage was to Jean-Marc Germain, former Cabinet Chief of Martine Audry and they both have a teenage son who is almost of legal age.
She came to France at a very young age when her father decided to migrate to give her and her sister a better education. Life as a migrant was hard, without the use of the language and without guarantees, but she remembers with gratitude the people who surrounded them and helped them get ahead to forge a promising and calm future, they had friendly people around them, Hidalgo recalls.
From Spain she misses many things, her parents who live there, as well as the food and lights of Cádiz. Anne loves the movies of Almodóvar her personal friend and the music of Luz Casal.
Politically, former president François Hollande, with whom she worked for more than six years, was precisely the one who asked her to join the socialist party in 2000, considering that the party needed to increase the female presence, as well as young people with renewed ideas far from classical socialism. Since then, her commitment to politics and social change has not stopped.
The present challenge for Anne Hidalgo is great, in her second term she will have to give continuity to the social, economic and environmental policy of the most important city in France with more than 2 million inhabitants; All without the support of Emmanuel Macron, president of the country, who more than rejoices at her election, considers her a rival for the next presidential elections in 2022.
