From Dati to Hidalgo, the women fighting to become mayor of Paris

NKM, as she is known, is considered palatable to conservative Parisians to the west but also "bobo compatible" ? able to sway the capital's growing number of "bourgeois bohemians". Polls suggest that she can command higher scores than Miss Dati.

She is endorsed by Fran?ois Fillon, a former prime minister who appears to have decided not to run and whose venomous relations with Miss Dati are well-documented.

Miss Dati has the backing of Jean-Fran?ois Cop?, a sworn enemy of Mr Fillon with whom he was recently locked in a vicious battle to lead the centre-Right UMP party.

The two "Sarkozettes" appeared very close at one stage during the Sarkozy presidency but are barely on speaking terms. Miss Dati suffered a spectacular fall from grace ? reportedly because Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the former first lady saw her as a potential love rival ? after she was sacked as justice minister.

Born of North African parents, she is now a Euro MP and is the mayor of the chic 7th arrondissement in Paris. She had accused her younger rival of being a parachut?e ? a non-Parisian airdropped into the capital.

In a reference to ridicule she attracted last year when she failed to correctly guess the price of a metro ticket, NKM retorted that she was a regular on the municipal transport system, saying: "I'm a parachut?e with a travel card."

Both Right-wingers have accused the uncharismatic Miss Hidalgo, who is ahead in the polls, of being Mr Delano?'s designated heir who has never held elected office.

Miss Hidalgo hit back at NKM, saying she had betrayed the trust of her constituency and wanted to "use" the mayoral position for a shot at the presidency. She described her the candidate of the "old barons of the Parisian Right" and criticised her "lack of courage" for not fully backing gay marriage.

Mr Delanoe also joined the attack on NKM, saying: "I don't doubt that she will run a campaign based on image. I think Parisians will realise that she is a conservative who won't own up to it."

A fourth potential candidate is C?cile Duflot, the 37-year old housing minister, who said on Sunday that "nothing is ruled out" about her candidacy.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Green Euro MP, said the contest promised to be "enthralling".

"Perhaps they will show that one can have different projects, do politics differently between women by being competitors without being adversaries," he said hopefully.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568301/s/28b1f6c9/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Ceurope0Cfrance0C98784490CFrom0EDati0Eto0EHidalgo0Ethe0Ewomen0Efighting0Eto0Ebecome0Emayor0Eof0EParis0Bhtml/story01.htm

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