Mayor PS Lille Martine Aubry confirmed Saturday, August 31 at the braderie of the city she will not announce its decision to seek a fourth term before "end of September".
Asked by journalists about when she would announce her candidacy, Ms. Aubry simply replied: "We said end of September, we stay at the end of September".
The former Minister of Labor, if she decided to run again, will have as opponents her former cabinet director Violette Spillebout, invested by LREM to the detriment of Northern MP Valerie Petit, and former Minister Marc-Philippe Daubresse, designated by the Republicans. Mrs. Spillebout was also to inaugurate her local campaign later in the afternoon, in the presence of Stanislas Guerini, general delegate of LREM.
Patrick Kanner as possible rival
The position of Patrick Kanner, patron of PS senators and former chairman of the North General Council, political rival of the mayor of Lille, should be further clarified after a meeting with it on Tuesday.
In mid-August, Patrick Kanner had repeated that he did not exclude himself from showing up.
Asked by Le Parisien whether he would run for mayor of Lille, he replied: "why not?". "I was minister, president of the general council of the North and I am the boss of the fourth parliamentary group.I created, last December, the association will be Lille that goes well beyond the PS", argued the former Minister of the City, Youth and Sports under François Hollande, 62 years old.
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"I have to meet Martine Aubry at the beginning of September, an appointment that I have been waiting for a long time, I will not make my decision until after," said Patrick Kanner, saying that he wanted to "do everything possible to ensure that the Belfry (the Town Hall , ed) remains on the left, with the PS in leadership ".