Three opposition elected officials from Puéchabon targeted by compulsory resignation procedure: the mayor's request rejected by the administrative court

Me Hélène Bras and one of the elected officials targeted by the procedure (in the center), surrounded by an elected official and the former mayor of Puéchabon, this Thursday, July 25 at the administrative court. – F. A.

For months, the small town in the Hérault valley has been experiencing a tense climate within its municipality. It is in this context that the mayor initiated, against three opposition elected officials, a procedure for the ex officio resignation before the administrative court. He accused them of having refused to hold the polling station during the last elections. His request was rejected this Thursday, July 25.

The administrative court of Montpellier examined, this Thursday, July 25, the request of the mayor of Puéchabon, Xavier Peyraud, targeting three elected opposition officials. The chief magistrate of this small town in the Hérault valley had initiated a procedure for their ex officio resignation, on the grounds that they had refused to man the polling station during the 2022 and 2024 elections. He also maintained that one of them had been absent without valid reason from numerous municipal council meetings.

This approach came in a context of tensions within the municipal council, which have lasted for several months. The mayor and his deputies, now in the minority, see their proposals almost systematically rejected, particularly in budgetary matters.

“A real governance problem”

While the mayor was neither present nor represented at the administrative court, the three opposition elected officials were defended by Me Hélène Bras, and one of them had traveled to attend the hearing. The lawyer returned to the climate in which this procedure is taking place. “There is a real political problem, a real governance problem in this municipality. The mayor is trying to find a way to get rid of these elected officials and regain a majority that he has lost. We are in a real political conflict."

"Low political maneuvers"

On the merits of the case, Me Bras notes that her clients were not directly asked by the mayor to man the polling station, and that their names are not checked on the table that lists the elected officials responsible for this mission. The lawyer adds that their absence in no way prejudiced the organization of the vote. Finally, she notes “that none of the conditions for issuing an ex officio resignation are met.” And to plead before the court: “If for reasons of base political maneuvering we want to deprive elected officials of their mandate, it is very serious.”

Me Bras therefore asked the court to reject the mayor's request, and requested reimbursement of legal costs for his clients.

After deliberation, the administrative court rejected the request of the mayor of Puéchabon. He held that it had been formulated beyond the legal deadline. He also observed that the emails sent to elected officials to ask them to register for the schedule for holding the polling station could not be considered as a summons. Finally, with regard to the elected official whom the mayor accuses of repeated absences from the municipal council, he ruled that these “do not constitute a refusal to fulfill one of the functions assigned to him by law.”