The inhabitants of Pia are already called to the polls. They have until Friday to decide on this question: which candidate should Mayor Jérôme Palmade sponsor? Candidates need 500 signatures to fully enter the presidential race. Jerome Palmade, elected without a label, therefore prefers to ask the opinion of the inhabitants. He was in the studios of France Bleu Roussillon this Tuesday morning to explain the process.
France Bleu Roussillon: Why ask the opinion of the inhabitants, when sponsorship must be a personal choice?
Jerome Palmade: In 2020, I was elected on an unlabeled list, which brings together all political colors. I didn’t want to take the Piannencs hostage. I therefore decided, through a free citizen consultation, to ask them for their position. There are already about fifty participations. I undertake to follow the choice of democracy.
You will follow the choice of the inhabitants, even if it is about a candidate who does not represent your ideas at all?
I was elected without a label, but I am on the right. And even if a candidate on the left is chosen, I will follow democracy.
If the sponsorships were always confidential, would you have organized the same ballot?
If I had been elected under a political label, I would have signed my sponsorship directly. As the sponsorship is public, then we must go all the way and ask the opinion of the citizens.
For some residents of Pia, it is a lack of courage on your part. How do you answer them?
I think we explained them badly. For me, the city council and the mayor are only spokespersons. We want to implement a new policy in Pia. The political politics of yesteryear, where the mayor was king, is over. We want citizen consultation on each point. For example, we draw lots, every six months, for a hundred inhabitants who will be able to vote at the next municipal councils, as elected officials.
Other elected officials have attempted the same type of consultation, particularly in the Var. But the prefecture had this consultation canceled because it considered it illegal. Isn’t the procedure also illegal in the Pyrénées-Orientales?
In the Var, they held a direct referendum. We framed the vote with our legal department. This is a citizen consultation free. We do not go through the municipal council, so the prefecture is not consulted. It’s the same principle, but without going through the prefecture.
The inhabitants of Pia have until Friday noon to vote at the town hall. The counting will take place on Friday afternoon, only if at least 500 people have voted. Each inhabitant will be able to choose a candidate from the list.