Surprise resignation of La Rochelle mayor Jean-François Fountaine one year before the municipal elections
The left-wing mayor of La Rochelle, Jean-François Fountaine, announced his resignation on Friday, after 11 years at the helm of the Charente-Maritime city and less than a year before the next municipal elections.
"Time passes and it seems to me that we have to turn the page. I have therefore decided not to stand again in the next municipal elections," he said in a video on his Facebook page, explaining that he was "starting this transition now."
"I will resign from my mandate as mayor so that a new mayor can be elected within our majority at the municipal council meeting on June 16," added the 73-year-old mayor. His current first deputy, Catherine Léonidas, will act as interim mayor until then. Jean-François Fountaine, who will remain a municipal councilor, will retain the presidency of the urban area.
During a press conference at the town hall, the elected official stated that he had "no particular concerns" , explaining that political life was "not all for life" .
In 2014, defeated by a hair's breadth (34 votes) in a citizen primary for the municipal elections by the young deputy finance minister Anne-Laure Jaumouillié, Jean-François Fountaine maintained his candidacy, causing his exclusion from the Socialist Party, and won the election.
And in 2020, supported this time by the Socialist Party , he won the town hall with a 181-vote lead over his former friend and supporter, MP Olivier Falorni, also a former socialist.
Born in the Paris region, Jean-François Fountaine first made a name for himself in competitive sailing, participating in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and then winning transatlantic races aboard catamarans.
In 1976, he joined forces with another famous regatta sailor, Yves Pajot, to create a small boatyard, Fountaine-Pajot, which became the world leader in cruising catamarans.
La Croıx
