Elected on June 28 as mayor of Perpignan against the outgoing LR Jean-Marc Pujol, the RN Louis Aliot did not succeed, on Saturday, in overturning in its camp the agglomeration of Perpignan, which remained in the hands of the Republicans. Elected deputy of the Pyrénées-Orientales in 2017, mayor this year, twice despite a "republican front" against him, Louis Aliot only totaled 33 votes on Saturday, allowing the mayor LR of Saint-Estève Robert Vila (49 votes) to win the presidency of Perpignan Méditerranée Métropole in the second ballot.
>> READ ALSO - Municipal: despite the victory of Louis Aliot in Perpignan, the results are bitter for the RN
Robert Vila came out on top of the first round, with 38 votes, ahead of Louis Aliot (30) and Alain Ferrand (18), DVD mayor of Le Barcarès, who ultimately withdrew. This withdrawal resulted in Alain Ferrand being elected first vice-president of the agglomeration.
Aliot elected 5th vice-president of the metropolis
In Perpignan wanting to embody a change, Louis Aliot regretted "the sidelining of voters" from the city of Perpignan during the poll on Saturday and the election of a representative of "the old system", under of an "agreement between the LRs, the PC mayor of Cabestany and the few socialists who remain". Despite his 31 elected representatives out of 88, around a third of the community councilors, Louis Aliot had to fight to snatch up one of the 15 vice-presidencies of Perpignan Méditerranée Métropole and was finally elected 5th vice-president of Perpignan Méditerranée Métropole.
Robert Vila, LR mayor of Saint-Estève, a municipality of 12,000 inhabitants which borders Perpignan, has promised to "rebalance" the balance of power between the municipalities of the agglomeration and Perpignan, without the agglomeration being "opposed to the city- center". "We have an obligation to work together", to "defend the arguments of this territory and its values," said Robert Vila after his election.
First RN city with more than 100,000 inhabitants since 1995
Along with 17 other mayors, Robert Vila had publicly supported the outgoing LR mayor, Jean-Marc Pujol, president of the agglomeration since 2014, in the inter-turn-round. The latter's defeat enabled the RN to register his first victory in a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants since Toulon in 1995.
Perpignan and the 35 municipalities of the agglomeration constitute a group of 270,000 inhabitants, including 120,000 in the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales.