Socialist Paris Mayor beats Macron's candidate in election first round

Paris' incumbent mayor and Socialist party's candidate Anne Hidalgo during the first round of the French municipal elections at a polling station in Paris, France March 15, 2020. Eliot Blondet/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - Incumbent Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo beat President Emmanuel Macron's candidate into a distant third place in the first round of local elections in the French capital on Sunday, an IPSOS exit poll showed.

With 30%, Hidalgo, a Socialist, was comfortably ahead of conservative rival Rachida Dati's 22% and the 17.7% garnered by Macron's official candidate, former health minister Agnes Buzyn. A dissident from Macron's party, Cedric Villani, won 8%.