Political debate becomes argument as and when the second round of Angers municipal elections is close

Au fur et à mesure que le vote qui départagera Frédéric Béatse et Christope Béchu se rapproche le débat d'entre deux tours entre eux prend... un tour plus âpre. Le deuxième "duel" entre les deux candidats a été l'occasion de petites phrases assassines destinées à faire vasciller l'adversaire. Chacun vise à asseoir la pertinence de ses propres propositions à travers la critique de celles de l'autre. 

After a first face to face, already tougher between the two finalists of the Angers municipal elections, Frédéric Béatse and Christophe Béchu, compared to their previous meetings with the other candidates, the second debate which took place on March 27th was even more straightforward. As we go along the second round, the two men have had an argument rather than a talk. And numerous cutting remarks aimed at perturbing the adversary were sent from both sides as if the public was already overinformed about the content of their proposals. 

The main infra-struc-tures, like the second line of the tramway and urbanism, were topics of fierce, and sometime personal, critics. Regarding the tramway, Frédéric Béatse dismissed the authority of Christophe Béchu to express an idea: "The Angers inhabitants must not trust Christophe Béchu's opinions. Six years ago, he assured that the tramway would not climb the Roë street". After he was criticized for his "skimpy vision" about the railway station, Christophe Béchu refered to the outgoing mayor saying "Given you have concreted and mineralized the Ralliement square, you have a diploma of the 70's architecture".

The finances were also matter of arguments between the two candidates. The president of the Maine-et-Loire Conseil général dismissed Frédéric Béatse's critics about his management of the departement authority, pointing out that "the debt of his institution was per inhabitant of 500 euros while the one of Angers city and Angers agglomeration is 1 500 euros". "Angers is at the top of the rankings between cities, it is not the case of the department", said the mayor. 

The end of the previous debate having been focused on the letter Mr. Béatse sent to the abstainers, his challenger accused him "to create fears while a mayor is there to reassure" what led the outgoing mayor to refer to the leaflet "Angers danger" the opposition published last year and which was "a total caricature". Reacting to the blame of Mr. Bechu regarding the dirtiness of Angers, Mr. Béatse wandered if his adversary and himself would not live in the same town and, knowing that this one lives in Avrillé, said : "I think it's true by the way".