Les Républicains defused an internal power struggle on Thursday by unanimously investing Culture Minister Rachida Dati as the party’s candidate for the Paris municipal election scheduled for March 2026. In return, Dati withdrew the dissident bid she had threatened for next month’s legislative by-election in the capital’s affluent 2nd constituency and pledged to support the officially endorsed contender, former prime minister Michel Barnier. The decision was ratified during a special meeting of LR’s national investiture commission on 28 August. Party leader Bruno Retailleau orchestrated the accord after weeks of tension between the two high-profile figures, whose competing ambitions risked splitting the conservative vote in both races. Barnier will now run under the LR banner in the 21–28 September by-election, triggered when the Constitutional Council annulled the previous deputy’s mandate over campaign-finance irregularities. By securing Dati’s backing for that contest—and giving her a clear path to head the 2026 citywide ticket—Retailleau seeks to present a united front as the right prepares to challenge Paris’s long-entrenched left-wing leadership.