In Barcarès, a town near Perpignan, the municipal election will oppose a woman and her husband, the outgoing mayor. The two spouses, who have been separated for several years, have succeeded each other at the town hall since 1995.

This is an unprecedented political battle that is about to take place in the south of France. The municipal election in the seaside resort of Barcarès, near Perpignan, will oppose the outgoing mayor to his wife and ex-councilor, after 25 years spent by the couple succeeding each other at the town hall at the option of legal hazards. Alain Ferrand, various right, confirmed that he had declared himself a candidate, six months after the announcement by his wife, Joëlle Ferrand, of his decision to run.

"This election will not be like the others"

If they are still officially married, the couple has been separated for a few years, according to their entourage. "I just think that this election will not be like the others, and I will above all ensure strict respect for my privacy," the mayor told the newspaper L'Indépendant. According to her husband, Joëlle Ferrand would have "preferred to let go of her political family, her former running mate, rather than join them. It is her choice and her freedom. It is not for me to judge her".

"I had offered an internal primary to our association Let's continue together , but the proposal failed. Before a wall, I had to make up my mind," said Joëlle Ferrand to the regional daily in September. Juggling periods of ineligibility, the spouses had hitherto succeeded each other at the head of this city of 6,000 inhabitants, which has 80,000 in summer.

Paellas offered to voters

Their saga begins in 1995, when Alain Ferrand, restaurateur and boss of the casino, wins the ballot, finally canceled because he had offered a paella to the voters, which was assimilated to a purchase of votes. A new ballot is organized and he is re-elected. In 1999, his wife succeeded him during his mandate, because he was sentenced to three years of ineligibility for misuse of corporate assets.

Alain Ferrand will also be condemned for illegal taking of interests, then for tax evasion. From 1999 to 2011, Joëlle Ferrand directed Le Barcarès. But she was in turn sentenced to five years of ineligibility for having dredged the entrance to the port of Barcarès to facilitate the passage of a loved one's boat.

The husband then returned to the front of the stage, and resumed his chair at the town hall from 2011. During the municipal elections of 2014, Alain Ferrand had imposed himself in the first round, with 54.6% of votes in this bastion of the right, where Marine Le Pen had garnered 60% of the vote in the second round of the 2017 presidential election.