It is through a press release, released this Friday evening, September 16, that the elected representatives of the Saint-Étienne Demain group and the elected Communists challenge the mayor, Gaël Perdriau, ten days before a crucial municipal council. It will be the first to stand since the revelations of Mediapart on an intimate video blackmail case involving him, his chief of staff Pierre Gauttieri, and his education assistant Samy Kéfi-Jérôme.
These seven elected left-wingers are asking “the organization of a debate on the general policy of the municipality, in this case on the current case and the questions it raises on municipal governance.” They reiterate their desire that the City be a civil party in the case. And continue to demand the suspension of Pierre Gauttieri, whose latest statements in the press have made the vast majority of elected officials jump in the city and in the metropolis. “It seems unthinkable to us to sit in session in his presence,” write the members of Saint-Étienne Demain (Isabelle Dumestre, Pierrick Courbon, Ali Rasfi, Laetitia Valentin, François Boyer) and of the communist group (Michel Nebout, Christel Pfister).
Nine elected members of the majority demand the departure of Gauttieri
Three weeks after the first revelations of Mediapart, the socialist opposition is communist announces the color: “If nothing was done by the meeting, we would be led to consider that the entire municipal executive as well as the elected representatives of the majority endorse such an attitude and remain in solidarity with it.” Elected representatives of the majority who for a part remain silent this evening. They are nine (Patrick Michaud, Nicole Peycelon, Paul Corrieras, Claude Liogier, Jacques Phrommala, Alain Schneider, Jacques Guarinos, Véronique Falzone, Jean Jamet) to split from a terse statement, in which they say they regret the Mayor’s decision to remain in office, while considering that “the decision belongs to him.” The point on which these elected representatives of the majority and Saint-Étienne Demain agree is Pierre Gauttieri: they consider “essential” the departure of Gaël Perdriau’s chief of staff.
The municipal council of Saint-Étienne is scheduled for Monday, September 26 at 2 p.m. The NUPES de la Loire and several militant groups have already called for a rally in front of the Hôtel de Ville just before the start of the session.