Lyon. No, Jean-Michel Aulas is not (yet) officially a candidate for the municipal elections.

Some, and not just a few, have already fallen into the net of the Facebook account (2,600 followers) announcing Jean-Michel Aulas as a candidate in Lyon for 2026 by "following" him. The "official" mention may have misled the most assiduous users of this social network. Unless they had previously rallied to the account, which was initially called "Lyonlametropole."

Génération Aulas, contacted by Le Progrès, confirmed, however, that it was a "fake account" possibly dating back to "2009." "Neither in 2009 nor now has this account been run by anyone close to Mr. Aulas," the same source explained.

Several factors suggested this. The putative candidate for mayor of Lyon has still not registered a political party with the Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing. His self-allegory demonstrated a certain lack of humility, which is not very skillful when seeking the votes of citizens, suggesting that the operation was a complete fabrication.

In politics, one generally promotes oneself in a positive way... rather than putting on all the finery. Finally, announcing an official candidacy on August 19th, surreptitiously on Facebook, even though the network is global, was particularly suspect in terms of political communication.

For the start of the campaign, initially promised for the end of June, we will probably have to wait until the end of the first week of September, according to our information.