Bordeaux (AFP)

LREM candidate Thomas Cazenave assured Tuesday that his "coalition agreement" with outgoing LR mayor of Bordeaux Nicolas Florian, which he joined the list for the second round of municipal, went "beyond the labels".

"Addressing the second round of the municipal election without changing anything is now inconceivable. The crisis we are going through calls for joining our skills", and "joining forces" in "enlarged governance", "beyond the labels ", said the walker Tuesday, in a statement on Twitter.

Monday evening, his entourage had announced that Mr. Cazenave was lining up behind the outgoing mayor, who came first in a very short header in the first round before the environmental candidate Pierre Hurmic, as part of a "coalition" with an independent group of 13 people in an eligible position.

The outgoing mayor Nicolas Florian for his part said Tuesday in an interview with France Bleu Gironde that it was "not just an agreement".

Referring to the current "exceptional" period, Mr. Florian explained that the two men had "the same analysis of the responses to the crisis". "We are not on electoral contingencies (...) the priority is to gather energies," he added.

Mr. Cazenave had previously mentioned "a common project (carried) within the municipal council by two political groups each with their own identity", a "first in the democratic life of Bordeaux".

A few days ago, a quadrangular was in sight in Bordeaux, which promised to put Mr. Florian in a potentially delicate situation.

- "Old world" -

Alain Juppé's successor had only 96 votes ahead of the left-wing environmentalist Pierre Hurmic (34.56% against 34.38%). Followed by the list of Thomas Cazenave (12.69%) and that, "anticapitalist", of the NPA Philippe Poutou (11.77%).

Mr. Florian, 51, close and successor since March 2019 of Alain Juppé at the town hall of Bordeaux, and Mr. Cazenave, 42, ex-interministerial delegate for the transformation of the State, had had " "face to face" discussions several times, "according to concordant sources.

At the start of last week again, Mr. Cazenave said he wanted to maintain his list, following the line he had adopted at the start of his campaign.

His nomination as candidate of the presidential party, in a city where he is from but where he had no political anchor, against an outgoing Juppeist mayor and considered as "compatible Macron" had creaked teeth in the majority of Bordeaux, who includes in particular the MoDem, a national ally of LREM.

On Tuesday, environmental candidate Pierre Hurmic, in opposition since the Juppé years (1995-2019), said in a statement that "the old world political agreements are caricatures that reflect the excitement of the outgoing team and the opportunism of those who failed to convince the Bordeaux women and men in the first round ".

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