Pont-Saint-Esprit: Claire Lapeyronie loses the support of the socialist left for the municipal elections

Dernier conseil municipal le jeudi 28 mars pour le vote du budget. Midi Libre – T. M.

In Pont-Saint-Esprit, socialist activists refuse to support Claire Lapeyronie's list as requested by the federal authorities. The PS staff are increasing their warnings fearing an arrival in the affairs of the National Rally.

The squabble which exploded the municipal majority of Pont-Saint-Esprit ended up getting the better of goodwill in the Socialist Party. The prefect had to summon the voters to return to the polls after a series of resignations and renunciations to sit. Friday March 22, Mayor Claire Lapeyronie lost the support of the cantonal section of the Socialist Party in view of the municipal partial election on Sunday April 28 and April 5. next May. It’s in a way the shepherd’s response to the shepherdess. The socialists of Pont-Saint-Esprit could not digest that their left-wing friends who sat on the municipal council had their delegations withdrawn.

The surprise call

The Spiripontaine branch of the PS therefore decided, against and against the instructions of the departmental staffs, to vote for the Republican list " and citizen" by Gérome Bouvier "to make dam"to the RN. Surprised by this attention, the leader of the list of personalities from civil society thanked the PS while specifying that his list was "apolitical& quot;. The base of the Party of the Rose therefore said no to Claire Lapeyronie. The mayor of Pont-Saint-Esprit did not wish to comment on the decision of the secretary of the cantonal section Dominique François and his fellow PS activists.

"It could be a domino"

Claire Lapeyronie, on the other hand, expressed her gratitude to the Departmental Federation of the PS "for its support". She did the same with the PS section of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, a town whose secretary Vincent Poutier called to vote for her. This former socialist elected official from Bagnols judges "that the situation is extremely worrying in Pont-Saint-Esprit". Vincent Poutier is convinced of this: "There is a possibility of victory for the National Rally. It risks being a domino in a series that will be much longer, predicts the former elected official.

Warnings

The tenors of the PS are increasing their warnings. As a reminder, the municipal partial election on April 28 and May 5 will oppose three lists, that of the outgoing mayor Claire Lapeyronie, that of the RN ;nbsp;and that of Gérome Bouvier’s team, made up of personalities from Spiripontaine civil society. The secretary of the cantonal section of the PS of Pont-Saint-Esprit, Dominique François, takes up the section's call to vote for Gérome Bouvier even though the departmental authorities of his party advocate union around Claire Lapeyronie, "to block the RN".

"There is a big risk"

Mayor of Tresques, Alexandre Pissas is in line with the federal authorities and  makes no secret of his position. "If I had to vote, it is the ballot from the list led by Claire Lapeyronie that I would slip into the ballot box. There is no doubt about it." The elected tresquois thinks "that’there is a very big risk for Pont-Saint-Esprit that the National Rally could win." But isn't it too late ? Canton activists reproach Claire Lapeyronie "her behavior towards towards his former deputies like Vincent Rousselot, Benjamin Desbrun, Christine Clerc, Karima Loric or even the former advisor delegate for human resources Laure Regamey, who were on his list and who got him elected". "For us, it’s unacceptable that she dismissed them", regrets Dominique François.< /p>

Inaudible calls

It is therefore not surprising that calls to support the mayor of Pont-Saint-Esprit remain inaudible to grassroots activists. What is true of the socialists was already true of the communists of Pont-Saint-Esprit. Still scalded at having also been removed from Mayor Claire Lapeyronie's team in 2018, the Spiripontaine cell keeps its line and remains deaf to the directives of the PCF section of Rhone Gard and departmental authorities. It is an understatement to say that the turbulence of municipal life in Pont-Saint-Esprit caused a joyous mess between the Gard apparatuses of the PS and the PCF and their Spiripontaine base.

"The RN on the steps of the town hall"

Left-wing mayor of the village of Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson, located five minutes as the crow flies from Pont-Saint-Esprit, Christophe Serre is also a departmental advisor and works in pairs with Carole Bergeri, councilor of Saint-Marcel-de-Careiret. The elected official from Saint-Paulet is particularly impacted by the crisis which explodes the majority team of his counterpart from Pont-Saint-Esprit. The former assistant for culture, Christine Clerc, who is one of the dismissed elected officials, is none other than her replacement at the Department.  "I’told Claire Lapeyronie that the eviction of Christine Clerc put us in a very delicate position. When she made the decision to remove the delegations from five elected officials, I told her that by acting in this way, she was putting the RN on the first step of the steps of the town hall< /em>."