Contested for “electoral fraud” by some participants, the election of the mayor of the sixth sector of Marseille was validated by the Council of State on Tuesday, without however refuting the existence of electoral manipulations. Three elected members of the Republicans party were thus declared ineligible for one year.
“If the facts mentioned (…) reveal the existence of fraudulent maneuvers, they might not have had an impact on the results of the elections, whether it was a question of the order of the lists or the distribution of the votes. seats », considers the Council of State, in its deliberation.
The cancellation of this election, refused at first instance in March by the administrative court of Marseille, was notably requested by the head of the Marseille Spring list, a large union of the left which had finally won the central town hall of Marseille, following 25 years. reign of Jean-Claude Gaudin (LR), despite his defeat in this sector.
False proxies
Indeed, following the elections of March 15 and June 28, 2020, the candidate of the Printemps Marseillais, Yannick Ohanessian accused electoral agents and elected officials close to the winner of the second round of having collected the sale by proxy of a dozen residents. of the Saint-Barnabé nursing home. A request was then filed with the Council of State.
If these facts benefited Julien Ravier, the candidate having collected the most votes, they did not change the course of the election “taking into account, on the one hand, the number of votes cast by means of improperly established proxies and, on the other hand, the difference in votes between the different lists ”.
Thus, Julien Ravier, member of the Republicans won the election, according to the Council of State, but his victory was canceled, given the fraud observed. He receives a one-year ineligibility sentence. Joëlle di Quirico and Magali Devouge, two other LR elected officials also received the same sanction.