The mayor of Aix-en-Provence, Maryse Joissains, resigns after a conviction for illegal taking of interests – archyde

She had been running the town for twenty years. The mayor Les Républicains d’Aix-en-Provence, Maryse Joissains-Masini, will leave office on September 15 for health reasons, she announced on Wednesday 1^er September in a letter addressed to the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, Christophe Mirmand.

The 79-year-old elected leader since 2001 this city of 142,000 inhabitants located about thirty kilometers from Marseille. “It is my health which leads me to give up this new fight”, she wrote in her letter, confirming information from France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

According to M^me Joissains-Masini, his health problems were caused by his conviction on December 7, 2020 by the Montpellier Court of Appeal to eight months suspended prison sentence and three years of ineligibility, for “illegal taking of interests and embezzlement”. “This improbable decision (…) gave me such a strong emotion that it led to my emergency hospitalization, and this for ten days ”, she describes in this letter. “I came out almost blind”, she explains, pointing out that her “Convalescence still long” will not allow him to“Fully exercise its mandate”.

Justice condemned Maryse Joissains-Masini for the promotion of a driver, since canceled by the Council of State, and the hiring in the community of municipalities of a collaborator in charge of animal protection, while this area did not fall under not within the competence of this community.

In her press release, the septuagenarian specifies that she appealed to the Supreme Court following these convictions: “There was no fictitious job or personal enrichment”, she insists, specifying that she remains elected to the city council.

“She also remains president of the Aix-en-Provence regional council”, said a relative of the now ex-mayor. Also vice-president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, Mr.^me Joissains has not said whether she will retain this function.

“A political coup”, according to the opposition

“I have no doubts about his health problems. But it is above all a political coup “, reacted Marc Pena, leader of the opposition group “Aix en sharing” (left) to the city council, in “Noting that M^me Joissains is not resigning from her post of president of the territorial council ”.

“It obviously makes me smile, she has so prepared her succession with her daughter…”, added Mr. Pena, referring to Sophie Joissains, second cultural assistant and former senator. According to Mr. Pena, there will be no new municipal election, but only a new vote in the city council to elect a new mayor.

M^me Joissains was re-elected for the fourth time in June 2020, after a triangular, with 43.5% of the votes, ahead of Anne-Laurence Petel (LREM, 32.12%) and Marc Pena (Left Union, 24.34%).

Bastion of the right since the arrival of Maryse Joissains at the head of the town hall in 2001, Aix-en-Provence had previously been run for twelve years by a socialist mayor, Jean-François Picheral. Alain Joissains, the town’s husband, had been mayor of the city from 1978 to 1983. Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2012, Maryse Joissains was also regional councilor from 1983 to 1989, after being elected on a UDF-RPR list.