Marseille: rules of the game and possible scenarios for the "third round" of municipal elections - France 24

Marseille (AFP)

In Marseille, the only city in France not yet to know its mayor, after 25 years of reign of Jean-Claude Gaudin, everything will be played in the "3rd round", Saturday, during the first municipal council: rules of the game and possible scenarios d 'a thriller soap opera.

- The electors

The task of electing the mayor falls to the 101 municipal councilors elected on Sunday. Problem: for the first time since 1982 and the PLM law (Paris-Lyon-Marseille), this text concocted by Gaston Defferre, socialist mayor of Marseille for 33 years (1953-1986), who established an election by sectors for the three largest cities in France, no absolute majority has emerged from the polls.

The fate of the election therefore rests on the nine elected members of the National Rally (RN), the eight of Senator Samia Ghali (2.89%), a former socialist victorious in the 8th sector, and the three advisers of Bruno Gilles, Senator LR dissenting.

- The candidates

The candidate for Printemps Marseille must be the ecologist Michèle Rubirola. On the Republicans side, everything fell apart on Thursday.

Weakened after his defeat in his bastion of the 6th and 8th arrondissements, where Mr. Gaudin, his mentor, had been elected five times in the first round, Martine Vassal withdrew, in favor of the deputy Guy Teissier, old driver of the Marseilles politics formerly close to extreme right groups. This announcement immediately caused Lionel Royer-Perreaut's entry into the running: impossible, for the one who is, however, Mr. Teissier's deputy in the National Assembly to validate "the agreements in progress with the National Front".

RN Stéphane Ravier is not officially a candidate, but welcomed the withdrawal of Ms. Vassal for Mr. Teissier, calling for a "Marseille Pact" against the far left.

- The rules -

During the Municipal Council, in the first two rounds of voting, an absolute majority is required, ie 51 votes. Then it's the relative majority. In the event of a tie in the third round, the candidate elected will be the oldest. A point of settlement that would benefit Guy Teissier, 75, in front of Michèle Rubirola, 63, and Lionel Royer-Perreaut, 47.

With a secret ballot, surprises are possible. Renaud Muselier, now LR president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region (PACA), experienced it in 2008 during the election of Marseille-Provence Métropole: 89 out of 157 votes , he had seen 22 voices change sides and end up defeated by the socialist Eugène Caselli.

- Samia Ghali and the RN as referees

The former PS senator still defines herself as "a woman on the left", but has never hidden her friendship with Renaud Muselier. And the campaign has left its mark. In particular, this decision by Printemps Marseille to maintain a list against it until the end in the 15th and 16th arrondissements, causing a triangular with the RN.

Friday, she came out of her silence, displaying her demands: "I asked Michèle Rubirola to be her first assistant" in Marseille, she told AFP.

But even with the eight voices of Samia Ghali, Michèle Rubirola would still lack one for the absolute majority. Unless you recover, in the secrecy of the ballot box, the vote of Lisette Narducci, ex-radical of the left who went to Camp Gaudin during the municipal elections 2014 and now elected with Bruno Gilles.

For the Republicans, divided between two candidates, the cap of 51 votes seems impossible. But a victory in the 3rd round is possible, provided you get votes from Ms. Ghali and especially RN.

In 1986, to take the head of the PACA region, Jean-Claude Gaudin had openly allied with the FN: "The adversary is on the left, on the right I only see competitors".

- "4th round", at the metropolis

Even victorious on Saturday, Michèle Rubirola could lose a lot of her powers as early as next week, during the vote for the presidency of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis.

Because it is the metropolis and not the city that has a driving role in terms of economic development, housing or transport. And Martine Vassal, its current president, could continue to direct it, the majority on the right seeming acquired.

© 2020 AFP