Former Drancy mayor Jean-Christophe Lagarde has announced his candidacy for the 2026 municipal elections in this Seine-Saint-Denis town, following a period of ineligibility. The move comes as his wife, current mayor Aude Lagarde, stated she will not seek re-election due to health reasons.
Jean-Christophe Lagarde, who led Drancy from 2001 to 2017, confirmed his candidacy for the 2026 municipal elections to Agence France-Presse on January 10, following statements to Le Parisien. At 54, the former UDI leader and deputy from 2002 to 2022 had to hand over to his wife Aude in 2017 due to the non-cumulation of mandates law. She, mayor since then, announced her withdrawal a few weeks ago for health reasons.
Lagarde is returning to politics after serving a two-year ineligibility sentence handed down in 2022. He was convicted of ten months' suspended prison for providing his mother-in-law with a fictitious parliamentary assistant job from May 2009 to August 2010, a case of public funds embezzlement. He also faces charges for organized fraud related to fake news published in Le Point in 2022 against LFI members Alexis Corbière and Raquel Garrido.
Opponents portray him as the cornerstone of a 'Lagarde system' built on clientelism. He sees it as 'hatred' toward him and his wife. 'My conviction hurt me and I felt it as something deeply unjust, but I've moved on,' he told Le Parisien. He vows to be 'a different mayor' if elected.
In March, he will face, among others, Hamid Chabani, his former legislative substitute who broke with the municipal majority last autumn, Gokhan Unver from La France Insoumise, and Hacène Chibane from the Ecologists.
