Political life resumes. The municipal councils take office in more than 30,000 cities from Saturday morning until Thursday, appointing mayors and their deputies. Among the first to take office, Gérald Darmanin was elected mayor of Tourcoing (North) at a municipal council behind closed doors, but broadcast live on social networks.
Contrary to the rule on the cumulation of mandates, this one was authorized to cumulate the caps of minister and mayor, which gave him a rather lively exchange with Rémi Meurin, of the National Rally.
"You consciously lied to the voters"
"Mayor or minister, you have to choose Mr. Darmanin," said Rémi Meurin during the municipal council of Tourcoing. "During this campaign, you consciously lied to voters because you remain a minister ... part-time mayor, part-time minister."
Gérald Darmanin finds a seat he already occupied between 2014 and 2017 before leaving office to enter government. He thus intends to combine the two functions, thereby freeing himself from the rule in force since 1997, according to which a minister cannot be at the head of a local executive.
▶ ️ Dear friends, this morning during the 1st #Tourcoing municipal council I presented my candidacy for the post of mayor (Full time). ⚠️The opportunity to return to the result of the elections, the health crisis and the non-choice of Mr. #DARMANIN who will remain Minister #LREM. pic.twitter.com/TyDaBHihTf
- Rémi Meurin (@ remimeurin59) May 23, 2020>> Watch Wendy Bouchard's Big Journal in replay and podcast here
"The party you represent (...) will always be an enemy"
The Minister of Action and Public Accounts, elected mayor of the city in the first round with 60.88% of the votes, immediately responded to this attack. "Unfortunately, I believe, Mr. Meurin, that the party that you represent, for my country, for my city, will always be an enemy," he said to his opponent, who came fourth in the poll with 8.39% voices.
"I hope the Tourquennois will see how your party makes fun of little people and lives only with problems," he added. "And when there are fewer problems - and I tend to believe that this was the case in Tourcoing in the last municipal elections - there is less vote for you, so I wish you, Monsieur Meurin, to have fewer and fewer problems that you and your deadly ideas can surf on. "