Lille (AFP)
The Minister of Action and Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin was elected Saturday morning mayor of Tourcoing (North) by the city's municipal council, held behind closed doors but broadcast on social networks.
Mr. Darmanin, 37, who finds a seat occupied between 2014 and 2017, will combine at least one time, the two functions, thereby freeing himself from the unwritten rule, in force since 1997, which requires that a minister cannot be the head of a local executive.
The list "The choice of Tourcoing" he led in the municipal elections had won hands down in the first round, March 15, collecting 60.9% of the vote but against a background of record abstention (74.6 %).
Saturday morning, Mr. Darmanin was elected without surprise by the municipal council by 46 votes out of 53 and was immediately proclaimed mayor by the oldest member, Jean-Marie Vuylsteker.
The latter had been entrusted with the keys of the city by the Minister since February 2019, after the death of Didier Droart, a faithful follower of Gérald Darmanin.
The minister then girded the tricolor scarf, in the presence in particular of his friend, the president of the Regional council of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand (ex-LR).
"Mayor or minister, you have to choose. Ah no, since President Macron authorized you to break the rules and combine the two positions, further proof of his flagrant interest in the bond of proximity and local life", had joked at the start of the municipal council, elected official Rémi Meurin (National Rally).
"Mr. Darmanin, during this campaign, you knowingly lied to the inhabitants (…) Despite appearances, you will not really be mayor. Part-time mayor, part-time minister ...", accused Mr. Meurin .
The minister-mayor indicated that, while he was cumulating, he would "obviously not" receive his municipal allowances, which he will pay back to the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA).
In 2014, Mr. Darmanin, then under the UMP label, had snatched the city from the PS. He has been a member since 2017 of La République en Marche.
© 2020 AFP