David Lisnard elected President of Association of Mayors of France

The mayor of Cannes, supported by the outgoing president, François Baroin, went on a unpublished duel against the mayor of Seals, Philippe Laurent. Beyond their personalities, these are two opposing ways to apprehend relations with Emmanuel Macron who clashed.

Le Monde

The Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, was elected, Wednesday, November 17, president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) with 62.34% of the votes during a vote to which approximately 11,000 of the More than 34,000 members of the organization of local elected officials. He succeeds François Baroin: The Mayor The Republicans of Troyes had announced, at the end of August, that he would not brighed third term and had supported Mr. Lisnard’s candidacy, Member of the same party and already Vice President of the AMF. .

This support had displeased the Secretary General of the AMF, Philippe Laurent, Mayor Udi of Seals, in the Paris region, which then launched in the race and whose list obtained, Wednesday, 37.66% of the votes. Beyond the personality of the two contenders, these are two opposing ways to apprehend relations with Emmanuel Macron who clashed: Mr. Lisnard, anchored right, is the guarantor of “the independent DNA” of the AMF that characterized Mr. Baroin’s seven mandate years, while Mr. Laurent is more willing to dialogue with the executive.

The vote presented a part of additional uncertainty compared to previous polls, mayors can be expressed remotely. The 36 members of the Bureau and the 100 members of the Management Committee were also elected to proportional, depending on their positioning on the list of each of the candidates. Mr. Lisnard’s victory will not prevent cohabitation with Mr. Laurent’s list inside the AMF for the next three years.

“The AMF should not be grabbed. by a clan “

In his speech Tuesday in front of the mayors, Mr. Laurent defended an “AMF that is for or against anyone and who has a single compass: the cause of mayors”. “I will not take a position for any presidential candidate,” he said. For his part, Mr. Lisnard insisted on the “independence of power of the power”. “The AMF does not have to be grabbed by a clan,” he said.

The supposed proximity of his competitor with the Elysee is the main angle of attack of the mayor of Cannes. The mayor of seals defends vigorously and the executive has repeatedly said not to be at the origin of his candidacy.

The election at the head of the AMF also created whirls within the Party the Republicans (LR). The President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region, Renaud Muserier, called the mayors of his region to vote for Mr. Laurent, against the Mayor of Cannes, launching a heavy burden on Mr. Lisnard, “nestled in His palace of festivals “,” from the top of his red carpet “, while he is the same party and the same region. “Political revenge” and “nauseating caricature” of Cannes, has castigated the leader of LR Damien Abad members. The candidate for Inauguration LR Eric Ciotti, very close to Mr. Lisnard, pleaded for an “automatic exclusion of the macronist massel”.

This election intervenes at the end of a quinquennate marked by strong tensions between the executive and the mayors. Shortly after arriving at the Elysée, while he had announced the abolition of the housing tax, Emmanuel Macron had been whistled at his first intervention at the AMF Congress.

The President of the Republic must receive at the Elysee a little more than a thousand mayors during a “rather informal reception” and without speech, Wednesday afternoon, according to the presidency. The Head of State will then speak, Thursday afternoon, at the closing of the Congress. According to the Elysée, “he will thank the mayors for their action during the epidemic” and “insist on the accompaniment of local authorities since the beginning of the five-year”.

/Media reports.