The Angers electoral campaign between two plaforms

Credit Christophe Béchu's blog

As it was already waited for months, Christophe Béchu made official on September 6th his candidacy to the next Angers municipal elections planned on March 23rd and 24th. Even though that project was not a surprise for the political circles of the city, the announcement of his decision nevertheless triggered a lot of comments from potential and assured foes or allies.

Jean-Claude Antonini (Wiki)

On left, the most notable stance was the one of Frédéric Béatse, Angers mayor, who, from the Accroche-coeurs platform choose to be silent and to focus his attention to the annual festival. But some of his friends spelled it out. Jean-Claude Antonini, previous mayor, was ironic, recalling the former candidacies of Mr Béchu, in an attempt to make it appear like a professionnal of politics. For the Ecologists, Gilles Mahé, deputy-mayor, saw in that candidacy an indication that Mr Béchu is "a bulimic" while Grégory Blanc and Luc Belot (Socialist Party) severely criticized the financial results of the policy led by the president of  the Conseil général de Maine-et-Loire.

On the allies camp, Mr Béchu received the support of Emmanuel Capus, general secretary of Union pour la majorité présidentielle (conservative) who praised "his vision and dynamism" that Angers "desperately needs". But the candidate, who was waited for his platform, made several promises. While he thinks the Maine banks reconquest is "necessary", he said he will suit the project to the economic situation and make it feasible in the six years of his mandate.

Credit : Frédéric Béatse's blog

About the way to manage the city, Christophe Béchu said he will constitute a municipal team whose half of the members will come from the "civil society" and he will no make alliance with another candidate between the two rounds of the municipal elections. The next step for Mr Béchu will be the details of his political platform.