Lyon (AFP)
His victory in the polls on Sunday was such that no one stood up to him: the ecologist Bruno Bernard was easily elected president of the Métropole de Lyon on Thursday, before the enthronement of another Green, Grégory Doucet, on Saturday At the mayor.
"There is no other candidate?" Asked the dean of the assembly, the centrist senator Michèle Vullien, who seemed a little surprised, after Mr. Bernard had officially applied.
In total, 84 of the 150 metropolitan councilors, elected for the first time by universal suffrage, made Bruno Bernard, a 50-year-old entrepreneur, the boss of the second largest city in France, with a population of 1.4 million and 3 , 5 billion euros of budget.
He obtains the exact number of votes he had claimed on the evening of the second round.
Sixty-two councilors voted blank, two cast a ballot and two voted in favor of Mr. Kimelfeld although he is not a candidate.
Gérard Collomb, for his part, had given up seeking the presidency of the city after his failure in the first round on March 15.
Asked about his vote on Thursday, the latter replied that it was "secret". "My fears (towards environmentalists, note) you know them (...). I will judge on the basis of documents," said the man who will continue to sit in the assembly.
The installation of the new president of the Metropolis had been relocated to the Congress Center for health reasons, the usual hemicycle of Greater Lyon not allowing to respect the distance between people.
In the large room, chance made it so that Mr. Collomb, 73, sits just in front of the elected EELV Camille Augey, 28, who beat her in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, her stronghold of always, in the municipal elections .
A symbol of the rejuvenation and feminization of the assembly, two developments welcomed by Bruno Bernard in his first speech.
"Since Sunday evening, eyes have been on us. Towards Bordeaux too, Strasbourg, Annecy, Grenoble, Tours, Poitiers, Besançon and even Marseille. And defying the forecasts, I do not see any flower tank on the horizon of Greater Lyon ", he said, referring to the fears aroused by some by the coming to power of the Greens.
"The last weeks of the campaign have left too much room for caricatures and not enough for the respective projects. I have no bitterness or bitterness about them. Now let’s take action and solutions" to face "the climate challenge", a he added.
Before evoking the memory of his father, who was a local cacique of the PS, and paying a tribute to Mr. Collomb for having "had the idea of this metropolis", created in 2015 and endowed with unique skills in 'Hexagon.
"For more than 40 years, you have served Lyon (...). You are and will remain in the history of Lyon. On behalf of all the elected officials of Greater Lyon: thank you," said Bruno Bernard to the address of baron, once again a simple adviser.
© 2020 AFP