It was an open secret which now becomes official. This Thursday, January 23, Julien Plantier, currently first deputy mayor, declared his candidacy for the 2026 municipal elections in Nîmes: “Today, the situation requires me to take my responsibilities.”
In a video message broadcast on his social networks, the Nîmes announces his candidacy. “A year ago today, Jean-Paul Fournier announced that he was not running for a fifth term”begins Julien Plantier in a one-minute video, filmed in front of the Musée de la Romanité (see below). “At the dawn of the year 2025 before us, the time has come for me to become more involved. If I am speaking to you today, it is to announce my candidacy for the 2026 municipal election.”
The first deputy then continues: “Today, the situation requires me to take my responsibilities, with clarity, with sincerity and with transparency. Some will say that this candidacy is too premature, on the contrary, if we do not wish to renounce the record of Jean-Paul Fournier, We need to act now!” The latter quickly planned to go and meet the people of Nîmes to exchange ideas.
First deputy of Jean-Paul Fournier since 2020, departmental councilor of Gard and president of the SAT (territorial planning company) and the SPL Agate, he promises a new offer for the future of Nîmes. Doctor in public law with a specialization in local authority law, lawyer Julien Plantier has also taught for several years at the University of Nîmes.
-At the same time, for almost 20 years, he has been alongside Jean-Paul Fournier in the Nîmes political adventure. Step by step, he managed to gain the trust of the mayor who entrusted him with numerous missions… Starting as a young activist in 2008, he became a municipal councilor responsible for Youth and Local Mission in 2008. During the following mandate, in 2014, he was promoted to deputy mayor in charge of Sports. In 2020, he became the first councilor's go-to man. First deputy, but above all president of the group of elected representatives of the municipal majority. A reward for brilliantly carrying out a major action as Fournier's campaign director in 2020.
Six years later, in 2026, a completely different challenge awaits. Julien Plantier is taking a big step by embarking on this electoral adventure, this time as head of the list. In a context of competition on the Right with the president of Nîmes Métropole, Franck Proust, not officially declared yet. The latter, however, seems to have the preference of Jean-Paul Fournier, if we rely on the interview given by the mayor to our newspaper just a week ago. Moreover, mid-morning this Thursday, the first deputy took care to warn his boss at town hall.
Co-responsible for the mayor's record for almost two decades, Julien Plantier will have to prove over the next 14 months that he has the capacity to assume both the Fournier legacy while proposing, at the same time, a new horizon and another way of doing politics. And all, it seems, without the support of the mayor. Quite a bet.
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