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A concerned but bare majority electorate in the Pays de Gex village of Cessy breathed a communal sigh of relief after finally ousting France’s second-longest serving mayor, Jules Emery. (See The Plaindealer below).

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The Sunday, March 9 election saw the bulk of the Cessy Autrement (http://www.cessyautrement.com) opposition list make it through in the first round. This, supporters say, will ensure the village a chance to place greater emphasis on developing a proper long-term urban and environmentally-friendly vision for both its inhabitants and the Lake Geneva region.

By securing more than the required 50 percent election threshold, 21 of the 23 Cessy Autrement candidates have secured a place in the new village council. These include the list’s mayoral candidate, Christophe Bouvier, a born and bred Cessien and local pharmacist. Only one candidate from the Liste d’Action pour les Interets Communaux (http://jules.emery.free.fr), presented by the incumbent mayor, was able to attain a majority vote. Hence, he will also be member of the new council.

This means that the second electoral round on March 16 will decide who will fill the remaining seat. The newly elected councillors are urging Cessiens to vote once again for Cessy Autrement in order to provide it with this last slot. This will “underpin the strength of our new government,” maintained one.

According to local correspondents who provided this report, last Sunday’s atmosphere at the Cessy’s Salle du Vidolet community centre was tense during those voting hours from 8am to 6pm. Both mayoral candidates and their lists were present, nervously eyeing citizens as they stepped up to the voting urns. It took a lot of courage for the 10 women and 13 men from Cessy Autrement, they said, to stand up against the veteran incumbent, who had already served six terms totalling 36 years and was determined to head the village for another six.

As already noted in The Essential Edge, Emery is known to repress his enemies as much as he favours his friends, especially when they can serve his own interests. As local inhabitants have made clear, anyone who had decided to stand against him – but lost the elections - ran the risk of encountering future difficulties when applying for a building permit or any other matter when dealing with the local authorities. They also maintain that the outgoing mayor’s regime commonly used this kind of administrative harassment to intimidate opposition. Eric Leger, the only member of the former council to have criticized Emery openly, returned to his home on the night of Cessy Autrement’s final meeting to run over a spread of nails in his driveway destroying all four tires of his car.

For Cessy Autrement, winning the election was not a done deal. The outgoing mayor’s list enjoyed a well established voting base mainly consisting of “les anciens,” notably the indigenous local families, people working in local businesses and all those to whom the Mayor has granted favours. Nevertheless, Cessy Autrement’s mayoral candidate, Christophe Bouvier, may have attracted votes from Emery’s home ground, particularly younger voters with families, who want a safer village for their children.

Furthermore, the networking and PR activities by various Cessy Autrement candidates, some of them actively engaged in community affaires for years, resulted in motivating young people and those who had become fed up with the pitfalls of the ancien regime to vote for the alternative.

Many Cessiens give Emery credit for his achievements, such as the opening of a local supermarket, the construction of the new primary school and, more recently, the building of a pre-school nursery. Nevertheless, they remain worried about the ongoing explosive demographic expansion of this village that will become a town once its population officially hits 3,500. (This actual population still has to be confirmed by the national census). “There is so much traffic now,” says one of the inhabitants.”It can simply not continue at this rate, if we still want to be able to walk on the streets.”

The pedestrian infrastructure improvements that the former council has put into place are not considered sufficient. There also remains a highly dangerous traffic problem which still needs to unaddressed. Instead, the Emery council decided to give priority to the planned construction of an ultramodern town hall costing the commune 2.3 million euros. Many Cessiens do not agree with this project.

Cessy Autrement stated that they place their principal emphasis on securing the safe circulation of pedestrians and cyclists throughout Cessy, as well as urgent improvements in the local school. They also intend to put the town hall project on the back burner. Most importantly, the new government intends to curb demographic growth in the village by guaranteeing an urban development strategy with slower and more realistic demographic expansion (2.5 percent as opposed to the current 10 percent) based on existing infrastructure. The new council further intends to invest in long-term sustainable heating systems for public buildings to replace the costly fuel heating systems put into place by Emery, who also happens to be the owner of the local fuel delivery company.

According to Cessy Autrement, the council’s overall objective is to achieve a balanced demographic and environmentally-friendly development approach that will serve as an example for the whole of the Pays de Gex”. It remains to be seen how much of this goal will become reality, given the commune’s existing debt level and the relative lack of experience among the newly elected. However, passing onto a new regime after 36 years of Emery domination is clearly bringing a much-needed fresh breeze to the village.

Official Election Results for Cessy (Ain)

Number of seats for the new council : 23
Registered voters : 1.958
Voters : 1.359 (69.41 %) participation in the March , 2008 first round

Counted : 1.324 (97.42%) legal ballots once blank or void votes had been eliminated

Elected Councillors

Larour Pascal : 689 (52.04%)
Revellat Patricia : 689 (52.04%)
Grignola-Tappa Jérôme : 689 (52.04%)
Texier Evelyne : 681 (51.44%)
Semiavone Alexandre : 680 (51.36%)
Guéritex Dominique : 677 (51.13%)
Guigue Carine : 674 (50.91%)
Léger Eric : 671 (50.68%)
Bresson Stéphanie : 670 (50.6%)
Goosemans Marie : 670 (50.6%)
Bouvier Christophe : 670 (50.6%)
Decock Didier : 669 (50.53%)
Thyllys Patrick : 669 (50.53%)
Eustachon Muriel : 667 (50.38%)
Jacquemier Louis : 666 (50.3%)
Odet Daniel : 665 (50.23%)
Dias Marie : 665 (50.23%)
Tholomé Françoise : 665 (50.23%)
Jeannot Guy : 665 (50.23%)
Poizat Michel : 664 (50.15%)
Duminy Linda : 663 (50.08%)
Huet Marie-Odile : 663 (50.08%)