On the side of Stephen Hervé, the current mayor (LR) of Bondy, “we were preparing to have bad news”. For Sylvine Thomassin, her predecessor (PS), “it’s a relief”.
The Council of State issued its decision on Monday. The highest administrative court has confirmed the judgment of the administrative court of Montreuil, delivered on February 12, canceling the municipal elections of March and June 2020. The Bondynois will therefore be called to the polls quickly.
This decision is thus not a surprise for the two adversaries. “After the judgment of the administrative court and the opinion of the public rapporteur, we waited until the end but we were preparing for it, even if it is never pleasant, admits Stephen Hervé, at the initiative of the request before the Council of state. We are going to go back to the fight”. With a list possibly revised at the margin, he specifies.
For Sylvine Thomassin, justice has done its job. “I do not see it as a victory but as recognition, confides the mayor defeated in June 2020, 64 votes behind. No, I’m not revengeful. No, I’m not a bad loser. I just want to keep democracy alive. I would have been the first to applaud them if it had been honest, even if it would have hurt my heart. »
The Council of State validates irregularities
The Council of State validated the irregularities already pointed out by the administrative court of Montreuil, namely the problems of signatures on the lists of signatures without power of attorney and the “massive distribution” of leaflets, “challenging the probity” of the outgoing mayor and candidate, “on a date that does not allow him to respond to this new element of the electoral controversy”. In this case, June 26 and 27, 2020, with the second round of voting taking place on the 28th.
“I have still not been heard by the financial general prosecutor’s office on this case, confides the elected socialist under investigation for illegal taking of interests. That is to say the importance they make of it. Anyway, I’ve never done anything dirty in my political life. She claims to have “taken a step back during these 17 months” and wants to do politics differently, with “a deeply renewed team”.
The campaign will therefore resume its rights. If it has not already started, as Stephen Hervé denounced, during the discreet arrival of Kylian Mbappé, last week, in the presence of his political opponent.
The date is not yet known but the elections could be held in mid-January. The verb of the two candidates is sharp and the spirit of Christmas is not likely to spread over the new electoral campaign.
–
