Arnaud Deslandes, elected mayor of Lille, succeeds Martine Aubry | EUROtoday

Unsurprisingly, Martine Aubry’s first deputy, Arnaud Deslandes, was elected mayor of Lille on Friday March 21, throughout a rare municipal council, succeeding the emblematic socialist mayor, who resigned after twenty-four years on the head of town.

Elected by 43 votes on 54 votes solid, the 40s, who had been appointed by M^me Aubry as his successor, gained towards Stéphane Baly, candidate the Ecologists within the subsequent municipal elections. Mr. Baly described this election as a succession “Without any suspense”saying that “The only election that will take place in a year”.

One yr from the municipal elections, Martine Aubry, a socialist mayor of Lille since 2001, introduced on March 6 his resignation. “I have been elected in Lille for thirty years, I have been mayor for twenty-four years (…) But the time has come to hand over to a new generation ”said the 74 -year -old elected official at a press conference.

Faithful of Martine Aubry

This anticipated pass aims to give visibility to Mr. Deslandes and the opportunity to embody power before the municipal elections of March 2026, a classic strategy in politics.

Arnaud Deslandes, still little known to the general public, has made his entire career in the shadow of Martine Aubry, of which he is a faithful. He “Brought nice transformations to me within the metropolis” and sharing “The identical priorities”there “Solidarity and assist of all”had rented M^me Aubry on March 6.

Born in Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes) on October 22, 1982, this son of a professor and a lawyer, convinced socialists, followed their path by taking his card in the Movement of Young Socialists (MJS) in 2002, then to the PS.

Student at Sciences Po Lille from 2001 to 2007, he entered Martine Aubry in 2005 as an intern. He then climbed all the levels of the belfry: cabinet collaborator from 2006 to 2013, director of cabinet from 2013 to 2020, assistant in charge of solidarity and territorial cohesion from 2020 to 2023, then first assistant in 2023.