The last ones was very based so its good to see that it might not be a downgrade.

There was a risk of having a really shitty conservative leader winning, but eventually it's a teammate of the previous socialist (in France it means social democrat) mayor who won.

Could the old guy not stand again or did he not want to?

She didn't want to. She said two terms were enough for her to do what she wanted to do.

The last one was involved in some scandals, directly and indirectly.

Which ones? I only happened to hear good thing somehow.

Just money stuff. Debt increased so taxes were raised on things like parking. She was accused of embezzlement and it was discovered she spend something like 75000 on clothing over 3 or 4 years.

I live about an hour from Paris, so I didn't follow it closely.

so taxes were raised on things like parking

That's a great thing, though. So kudos for being very targeted in the budgeting gymnastics

Agreed. That was a good thing to target. What I'm saying is that living in France it is more common to hear criticism, except when talking about the obvious gains like keeping pollution down and making the city better for pedestrians and cyclists. The pollution part is great.

I'm all for a lot of the things that happened while she was mayor.

The embezzlement part was toward the end of a 10-year tenure so that ended things on a bad note. The gap between rich and poor widened and the misappropriation of funds have left certain parts of the city quite filthy... Taxes in general went up by 50% which is remarkable in France.

Anyway, I just wanted to comment that while it might not make the front page outside of France, calling Hidalgo "based" is something I don't hear or read about.

Can you explain the €75'000 claim? The only articles I found about Hidalgo's clothing expenses were by political groups and even they only acrused her of €10'000 of luxury clothes over 3 years, which is less than the permitted expenses, even if some think Paris's mayor shouldn't be wearing high fashion. Also, it seems surprisiing that the amount is the Paris postcode and that does make it difficult to search for.

It also seems rather small beer when opposition candidate Rachida Dati failed to declare €400'000 of gifts!

Hi. I just read the news like everyone else. Of course she was within her rights to spend money on luxury clothes and bags.

I feel like my comment has upset a few people. I am not cherry-picking like some right-wing car-heads tend to do. I live in France. I just wanted to state that Hidalgo is not without scandal.

In September, Mediapart (who do great work) published her expense claims from 2020 to 2024. It was reported by Libération and Le Point:

• €75,050.65 for clothing (the mandated amount is €19,720) including 2 Dior dresses for over €6000.
• €125,000 on trips

Dati... At some point Wikipedia will need to create a a separate page for her scandals!

I feel like my comment has upset a few people.

Doesn't seem that way to me at all

Ok. Thanks.