Bondy: the court cancels the municipal elections

A gap of 64 votes in favor of the list of Stephen Hervé (LR), a particularly violent campaign riddled with cheap blows, an appeal by the outgoing mayor and candidate (PS), Sylvine Thomassin against the results… At the end of ‘a series of twists and turns, the municipal elections of Bondy of March 15 and June 28, 2020 are finally canceled: this is what emerges from the decision rendered this Friday morning by the administrative court of Montreuil, seized by the losers.

Among the elements put forward during the investigation of the dispute, nineteen votes are called into question: the signatures in the attendance list are different, between the 1 st and the 2 nd round. The other sensitive point concerns the “massive” distribution of a leaflet on Saturday, the eve of the second round of the elections, taking up in a truncated way a subject of the Parisian, posted on June 25.

The content of the article focused on two complaints against Sylvine Thomassin and her entourage as well as on the opening in February 2020 by the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office of a preliminary investigation for “illegal taking of interests, passive influence peddling, embezzlement of public funds, complicity and concealment of these crimes ”. Since then, it is the national financial prosecutor’s office which has taken over the case.

“Printed in 45,000 copies”

The publication is then reproduced in series and is also the subject of posters representing Sylvine Thomassin and her son, crowned with the formula “My family first! “. “These leaflets were printed in 45,000 double-sided color copies,” assures the former mayor. They were distributed everywhere, flooding letter boxes, they were plastered on the windshield wipers of parked cars … “In the elements of the judgment of the administrative court, are also cited” the entrances to the metro, the surroundings of the market, bus stops ”and even“ halls of condominium buildings ”.

“The towing and massive display of these media” took place “on a date that did not allow the candidate to respond usefully to this new element of the electoral controversy relating to her personal integrity”, is it specified by the justice . The electoral code in fact prohibits candidates from this type of process as it prohibits them from distributing and broadcasting from the day before the election, at midnight, of press releases relating to electoral propaganda.

Anger on the surface, the easy tackle, Sylvine Thomassin continues: “This election was stolen from the Bondynois, I do not accept it. Even if this has to be my last fight, I will fight it! “

“I did not order posters”

For his part, Stephen Hervé refutes the facts. “We knew that the election would be difficult and that the victory would be snatched. But I did not order or distribute posters. I am twenty years of political life and in my fourth campaign in my name, I have never done that ”, retorts the mayor, while admitting not being able to control his“ hundreds of supporters ”. He also questions the “massive” nature of the distribution of the leaflets and indicates that he will appeal, sure of his fact “I am not worried, we will continue to be at the service of the Bondynois. “

At the end of a trying campaign, on the evening of June 28, Stephen Hervé had left his status as an opponent to delight the city of Bondy from Sylvine Thomassin (PS), mayor since 2011. the city was held without interruption by the left since 1945.

“I want to be whitewashed”

On the other judicial aspect, namely the investigation of the national financial prosecutor’s office, the former mayor specifies that she has still not been heard. “I’m only asking that, I want to be cleared in this case,” she repeats.

The controversy starts in particular from an incomplete recording dating from February, but widely relayed, especially on social networks, a week before the second round of municipal elections. In the video montage, we hear a discussion between the boss of a company and Sylvine Thomassin’s son, Ugo Portier, which suggests that the latter would have benefited from a fictitious job thanks to the help of his mother. In the original version, when the boss mentions Sylvine Thomassin, Ugo Portier replies: “No, no, no, it’s not true, it’s false. My mother, she didn’t ask you anything ”. The investigation also concerns other elements including a second video in which the same entrepreneur indicates wanting to push the candidacy of Sonia Bakhti (UDI) for the municipal.