Boucau (France) (AFP)

In Boucau, very close to Bayonne, the Covid-19 epidemic almost got the better of the municipal ones. The mayor and candidate spent 17 days in a coma, ten running mates were contaminated, an opponent hospitalized but the campaign restarted, slowly.

"All that is behind us now", assures Francis Gonzalez, 70, the mayor (DVG) of this town of 8,200 inhabitants who found his quarters on May 28, after two months of absence and 15 kg less .

This former rugby player with an imposing build, is "in great shape", he told AFP. He receives at home, seated in front of a large desk covered with files. Francis Gonzalez has returned to business and wants to show it: "As long as I have health, I have no reason not to continue", warns the candidate for his own succession, however "aware that he could have stayed there ".

Local politicians were in fact hit hard during the last days of the campaign for the first round: the mayor and a deputy hospitalized as well as an opponent, ten running contestants contaminated like running contestants.

His team, particularly a running mate and assistant, Dr. Gilles Lassabe, were also the subject of "gossip to make him fall", accuses the mayor.

The general practitioner was reported in late March by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) for "endangering others", accused of continuing his activity when he knew he was infected. The case has just been dismissed, the Bayonne prosecutor having noted "no offense".

The doctor, who is now awaiting "a withdrawal of his report and an apology from the ARS", had always refuted the charges, claiming to have confined himself for 14 days "to protect myself and the people I could meet during the campaign or through my professional activity ".

But the damage is done, said the doctor: "the rumor has been amplified in the context of the current campaign. I have lost patients, this has caused considerable damage to my image and that of my team", deplores he.

- "We should have postponed these elections" -

Arriving in the lead with 41% of the votes in the first round, Francis Gonzalez will be opposed in the second to a union of the lists PS, PCF and ecologist, directed by Dominique Lavigne (32%), joined by Marie-Ange Thébaud (EELV) and his 26 %.

"With 45% participation, the results of the first round did not satisfy anyone", comments the communist candidate who judges "very difficult" to campaign today: "We cannot pretend that nothing had happened . I trembled for the mayor of course, at that time, we put this whole election story into perspective. "

As for the mayor, he speaks of "fiasco". "We should have postponed the elections for six months," he said. This Sunday, about 2,500 people marched through the five polling stations in the small town but he wants to "beware of swift statements" about possible contamination at that time.

The campaign is slowly restarting, but without the usual market tours or door-to-door visits: "We have meetings for 10 people, we meet here to validate our documents", explains the mayor whose campaign brochure will be distributed in mailboxes.

According to Mr. Lavigne, "the democratic debate has been stolen, we cannot meet the population, even though fellow citizens have experienced difficult things". He and his team will however try to move at the foot of the dwellings, "to chat with a few residents, try to show themselves".

The two opponents say that on June 28, it will be necessary to travel to vote, "even if we can understand that people are afraid". Francis Gonzalez already knows that he will enjoy "a bonus life", regardless of the result.

© 2020 AFP