The health crisis continues to turn political life upside down. If the second round of the municipal elections was rescheduled on June 28, the ballot was played in the first round for 30,143 of the 35,000 municipalities in France. Deconfinement obliges, the municipal councils elect only since May 22 mayors and deputies. It took two months to see the new teams set up, usually on the warpath five days after the vote. But if the peak of the epidemic is now behind us, the precautionary measures to avoid a resurgence of Covid-19 remain. For lack of space or means, several city officials were sacred in unusual conditions, whether in the church, the garden or the circus. Overview.
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" This tent is better than a gymnasium "
Direction Normandy, in the small village of Émiéville, a stone's throw east of Caen. In this town of 650 inhabitants, Stéphane Amilcar, without label, was sacred on March 15. But the town hall, 300 square meters, did not allow the respect of barrier gestures. The city councilor therefore decided to use the church which, according to him, "serves four, five times a year", to form the new municipal team. The election took place on Tuesday, but caused a stir locally. The diocese was quick to denounce in a press release a "manifestly illegal use" . "The bishopric referred it to the prefect," we said. Before adding: "No one has the right to use a church to organize a non-religious meeting, by law, without the permission of the parish priest . "
The mayor of Luynes was elected to a circus. GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP
A little further south, in Luynes, near Tours (Indre-et-Loire), the municipal council met ... under the marquee of a circus, the only viable option for respecting social distancing measures. Thirty people attended the re-election of Bertrand Ritouret with 24 votes to 29. “It required 4 m2 per elected representative. Or 120 m2 for 29 elected officials. The marquee is 600 m2. The public was able to be welcomed with the same respect for health rules. Each spectator being spaced one meter apart. We condemned every second place in the stands, and we blew up every other row , " said the man who has run the town of 5,000 inhabitants since 2008. For this new kind of spectacle, the country setting was not been concealed. Only a few French flags were placed on the stage. “This tent is better than a gymnasium. We all see each other because the layout is round, “welcomed the winner. On the side of Valence (Drôme), the mayor LR Nicolas Daragon was reelected to him in an amphitheater behind closed doors. On his arrival on the Grenoble-Alpes university campus, the city councilor spoke of "somewhat strange conditions" and "a kind of virtual reality" .
In the garden
Other municipal councils were held outside, as in the town hall courts. In Malarce-sur-la-Thines, a village of 250 inhabitants in the heart of the Ardèche valleys, the elected officials have decided to gather under a lime tree. An option which made it possible to welcome a minimum of public, for the election of the mayor Régis Le Flohic. Same thing in Gradignan, near Bordeaux where the choice of a " CM in the garden " was retained. “It may seem unusual, even a kind of first, but it is simply a way of paying homage to Gradignan, a natural city par excellence. It is a nod to its DNA ” , greeted the mayor without label Michel Labardin. In the park of the old 18th century wine castle which now houses the town hall, around sixty people attended this major political event for this city of 26,000 inhabitants.
The election of the mayor of Gradignan, near Bordeaux, took place "in the garden". MEHDI FEDOUACH / AFP
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Bernard Viatte, 63, did not have the chance to attend his entry into office. The sexagenarian, victim of Covid-19, spent two months in hospital, including four weeks in a coma. Elected on May 15 as mayor of Froidefontaine, a village of 460 inhabitants in the Territoire de Belfort, he was re-elected Tuesday from his re-education center where he was admitted on Tuesday. In a telephone interview from his bed in Héricourt, this La Poste retiree certified that he had caught the coronavirus " during the first round " of the municipal elections. " We had everything well organized, there was gel (hydroalcoholic) but at the time, we were told that the masks were useless, " he told AFP. "I think if I had worn a mask, I would not have caught the virus," he railed. The elected official will not be able to find his chair right away: he still has "more than a month" of rehabilitation.