This Monday, June 24, the mayor of Dijon brushed aside the danger linked to an increase in legislative candidacies from elected officials from his majority: “there is no risk of division because we are united by a program municipal”.
Due to the reserve period, the Dijon municipal council, this Monday, June 24, 2024, was cut off from the general policy speech to avoid addressing the legislative election campaign and to concentrate on local public action.
However, ahead of this session, François Rebsamen (PS, FP), mayor of Dijon, answered questions from the media and commented on the situation which sees six members of the majority presenting themselves and even, sometimes, competing with each other.
Sladana Zivkovic competes with Océane Godard
In the first constituency, a real soap opera whose protagonists are two elected representatives from the Dijon majority marked the first round campaign, in a quarrel punctuated by crescendoing press releases.
Océane Godard (PS), vice-president of the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region and deputy mayor of Dijon, is running having received the nomination of the Socialist Party as part of the electoral agreement of the New Popular Front (read the press release) and being strongly supported by the first federal Michel Neugnot (PS) (read the press release) and the Young Socialists of Dijon (read the press release).
Although close to François Rebsamen, he does not officially support it, since he calls to vote for the outgoing deputy Didier Martin (REN), candidate of the Ensemble pour la République coalition.
This was already the case in 2022 since François Rebsamen founded the Progressive Federation to support Emmanuel Macron’s action at the national level. Furthermore, contesting the electoral agreement dominated by La France insoumise, François Rebsamen encouraged the social democrats to avoid “the catastrophe that the coming to power of Le Pen’s RN would represent” (read the press release).
As in 2022, Sladana Zivkovic (PS, PP), deputy mayor of Dijon, is also a candidate, once again a dissident. She is contesting the investiture of her competitor, both at the level of the Socialist Party and of Place publique, of which she was the referent in Côte-d’Or during the campaign for the European elections.
While Raphaël Glucksmann’s party has banned him from using its name and logo, there is confusion over the reference to the New Popular Front. In the case of the dissident Insoumis, the courts have ruled themselves incompetent, referring the matter to the Constitutional Council.
While waiting for the voters to decide, the soap opera shines the media spotlight on these two candidates.
Georges Mezui competes with Pierre Pribetich
In the third constituency, the situation is barely clearer with two majority candidates who do not have the same political weight.
Pierre Pribetich (PS), former MEP, vice-president of the Metropolis, deputy mayor of Dijon, is launching on behalf of the Socialist Party, within the framework of the New Popular Front.
The socialist finds himself in competition with the surprise candidacy of Georges Mezui, municipal councilor responsible for sports. Presenting himself without the approval of Renaissance or Territoires de Progress, Georges Mezui was immediately suspended from these parties and was labeled “various left” by the prefecture.
In 2023, Georges Mezui had tried to take the head of the departmental office of Renaissance in Côte-d’Or but the members had preferred Laurent Baumann, positioning himself in a social-liberal line drawn by François Patriat since 2016.
François Deseille supports the candidacy of Fadila Khattabi
Still in this third constituency, the specialist in urban planning issues confronts Fadila Khattabi (REN), minister in the current government of Gabriel Attal and invested by Renaissance as part of the Ensemble pour la République coalition. Fadila Khattabi officially received the support of the “three Francis”: Rebsamen, Sauvadet and Patriat.
While the campaign was already well underway, the minister chose François Deseille (Modem) as deputy, rejecting Philippe Frei (REN), his deputy in the previous legislature and who had entered the National Assembly at the same time as Fadila Khattabi received the Disabled People portfolio.
President of the Côte-d’Or du Modem federation, François Deseille is also vice-president of the Metropolis, deputy mayor of Dijon and president of the political group of elected democrats, ecologists, centrists and citizens.
The components of the municipal majority are counted
The results of the first and third constituencies will therefore be carefully scrutinized by the different components of the municipal majority with a view to the 2026 elections: the socialists who are watching with interest the current evolution of the direction of the PS and its standoff to deal with La France Insoumise, the socialists who follow a social democratic line tinged with social ecology, the socialists who have already joined the central bloc around Emmanuel Macron via the Progressive Federation, the social liberals hostile to the asylum and immigration law, the centrists loyal to François Bayrou, the radicals and the new rallies looking at the same Horizons as Édouard Philippe.
The second constituency, where the only outgoing deputy of the Progressive Federation, Benoît Bordat (FP), is challenged in particular by the Dijonnaise Catherine Hervieu (EELV-Les Écologues, Nouveau Front populaire), departmental councilor and municipal councilor of opposition, will be also studied to consider the balance of power with the supporters of political ecology.
“At the municipal council, we do municipal politics,” insists François Rebsamen
“We have a diverse majority, it shows,” declared François Rebsamen while ensuring that “there is no risk of division because we are united by a municipal program.” “Those who are involved in the legislative campaign do not call into question the municipal program.”
“In the municipal council, we do municipal politics,” insisted the first councilor, “there will be no general policy debate, (…) I ask elected officials to work.”
“I was not elected by the people of Dijon to carry out a national campaign,” continued the socialist, “each ballot corresponds to a different response.”
“Even if I, too, was upset to see that the RN had come out on top for the first time in Dijon in the European election, nevertheless, given that there were 79% who had not voted for him, I did not formalize myself, I did not dissolve the municipal council,” he mocked, thus criticizing the dissolution of the National Assembly pronounced by Emmanuel Macron on the evening of the European elections.
The municipal session opened in the presence of Océane Godard and Georges Mezui, while Pierre Pribetich was absent, having given his proxy to François Rebsamen. Sladana Zivkovic was also absent, having given her proxy to Hamid El Hassouni (PS).
Any “personal adventure” may be subject to sanction
Considering that each candidacy corresponds to “a personal adventure”, the mayor does not rule out sanctioning elected officials who find themselves at odds with municipal policy.
In 2022, the legislative elections following the presidential election took place in June. In September, François Rebsamen sent a signal of firmness to his majority by depriving Sladana Zivkovic of part of his delegations.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
How the districts of Dijon voted in the European elections
The challenges of the first round of legislative elections in Côte-d’Or
Candidates running for legislative elections in Côte-d’Or
François Rebsamen, September 27, 2023, in Dijon (image from JC Tardivon archives)
