Municipal elections in Lyon: Politics has its codes, and maybe Jean

The campaign dynamic has completely turned against him. Jean-Michel Aulas, a candidate in the municipal elections for a large union of the right and center in Lyon, has lost his bet. Sunday evening, ecologist Grégory Doucet, at the head of the city hall since 2020, was re-elected by the inhabitants of the large city in the Rhône by a narrow margin, winning 50.67% of the votes, against 49.33% for his rival. A blow for the former president of Olympique Lyonnais, who had all the chances to win at the beginning of the campaign.

Indeed, many polls had Jean-Michel Aulas winning in Lyon, while the left was initially divided between the list of Grégory Doucet and the one led by the LFI deputy Anaïs Belouassa-Cherif. One of them, conducted by Ifop-Fiducial for the magazine Lyon Capitale in mid-November, credited the businessman with 47% of the vote intentions in the first round, against only 27% for the ecologist opponent. But over the months spent on the ground, his lead in opinion polls has melted away.

A controversial project of a mega-tunnel 8 kilometers under the city, a difficult program to explain, televised debates lost – Jean-Michel Aulas does not seem particularly comfortable in the role of candidate for the municipal elections, constantly justifying his mistakes by referring to his background as a “civil society” figure. “Politics has its codes, and maybe Jean-Michel Aulas didn’t have them,” acknowledged Jonas Haddad, spokesperson for the Republicans, on a special program on Public Senate. Officially supported by the party led by Bruno Retailleau, the Lyon candidate could also count on the support of the LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez.

Not enough to emerge victorious from the electoral battle, which ended with a gap of only a few thousand votes. How to explain such a setback for this figure, long popular within the city’s football club? “It’s the defeat of bad communication,” says Hubert Coudurier, editorialist and director of information for Le Télégramme, also on Public Senate. “We live in a system where you have to know how to speak on television, have punchlines… Jean-Michel Aulas is undoubtedly a great industrialist, but he didn’t completely do the job. It means that even in the last 15 days of a campaign, things can happen.”

As Jean-Michel Aulas spoke after the announcement of the results last night, he had not officially acknowledged his defeat. He mentioned “irregularities” after the vote count and said he was considering filing an appeal. Finally, in a message published on X, he indicated this Monday his willingness to be in opposition to Grégory Doucet with the aim “that the voice of all the Lyonnais is heard, with exigency and constancy.”

Beyond the city hall, Jean-Michel Aulas also intends to “more than ever fully play his role in the Metropolis.” “It is at this level that the future of Lyon and the 57 municipalities that make up our territory will be decided,” he justifies. With the victory of many of his lists, the LR candidate Véronique Sarselli is expected to obtain an absolute majority to lead the institution, which has significant local powers. Therefore, she should, barring any surprises, succeed the ecologist Bruno Bernard, in office since 2020.