It’s called the “third round”. In many cities in France, the mayors elected by the voters in the second round of the municipal elections have officially been elected during installation meetings, which mark the beginning of the new mandate.
Except that, as you can see in the video at the top of the article, while this moment can be emotional for the mayor and their teams, it also marks the return of hostilities that have already marked a particularly tense campaign. Several of these first municipal meetings have been marked by insults and other unfriendly exchanges between the elected officials of different groups.
In La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis), for example, the entire audience in the room, gathered to witness the induction of the new Mayor LFI Aly Diouara, booed his rival, the socialist Oumadou Doucouré, accusing him of taking advantage of his speech to criticize the election and make a political intervention.
Hissing, insults, and disruptions
In Marseille, the same accusation was made against the doyenne (RN) of the assembly Anne-Marie Gregori, who tried to slip a word to the attention of the voters for the RN candidate Franck Allisio, before being called to order.
But it is probably in Grenoble that the municipal council was the most tense. Struggling to put an end to insults and silence the elected officials ready to quarrel, especially between the right-wing opposition and those from France insoumise, the green mayor Laurence Ruffin will have mixed memories of this first assembly.
