Former French Premier Ministre Alain Juppé is today beginning his second term as the mayor of Bordeaux following last night's election victory - in which he recorded his highest percentage majority vote (56.24%) - [abstention rate: 55%].Juppé, representing the RPR party, was the mayor of Bordeaux from June 1995 until December 2004 when he was convicted of mishandling public funds and was forced to leave the political world. He was convicted and initially sentenced to a 18-month suspended jail sentence, the deprivation of civic rights for five years, and the deprivation of the right to run for political office for 10 years, but he appealed against the decision and as a result his disqualification from holding elected office was reduced to one year and the suspended sentence cut to 14 months.
At the end of this "year out" spent in "exile" in Canada, Juppé returned to Bordeaux and was relected mayor in the municipal elections of 8th October 2006.
The man who gave Bordeaux the wonderful tram network is back, and according to "la Rachitique" - a student paper I was given today while queueing for my sandwich - the locals are pleased to have him back. "Ah Alain", it reads, "tu es revenu, enfin" (you have returned, finally).
