This looks very much like a poker game. In the last position of a triangular the municipal elections in Montpellier, the industrial Mohed Altrad (13,31 %) had to obtain a rallying point for hope to continue to maintain the suspense in the campaign. On Tuesday, a few hours before the closing of the deposit of the lists at the prefecture, the billionaire has signed an agreement with three other candidates who have not qualified for the second round : the youtubeur Rémi Gaillard (9,59 %), Alenka Doulain (9,25 %), the head of the list of a citizens ' movement supported by France insubordinate, and Clothilde Ollier (7,26 %), a dissident ecologist. What ignited, what is baffling !

"It is the heist of the century !" enthuses one in the team of Mohed Altrad. In the period between the two rounds of the election, which lasted two and a half months, the trio, with its 27 % of the votes cast on may 15, was associated to better weigh in on the negotiations with the suitors in the town hall. It was renamed "We are anyone, we have the ecology in common," a skillful synthesis of his political identity. Being a good businessman, Mohed Altrad has taken advantage of the failure of the discussions of the young collective, with the socialist candidate Michaël Delafosse to snag the update. A process of merger and acquisition, in any way.

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This alliance is shaking up the traditional dividing lines and creates a small earthquake in the political montpellier, already in turmoil after the disappearance of Georges Frêche in 2010. "In a campaign, not everything adds up not. An agreement must have before it all makes sense, " says one in the armies of Europe Ecology-The Greens, who joined Michaël Delafosse (16,66 %). But the strategy of Mohed Altrad is it really so surprising ?

I have the notoriety, power and money.

Since the launch of his adventure to conquer the city council, the head of the company has bewildered observers. Questions hanging over the real motivations that led him to descend into the arena of a campaign in the middle of 13 competing lists. "I have the notoriety, power and money ", likes to repeat. And to justify his commitment for the interest of the capital héraultaise : "I want to go to Montpellier that it has brought me. "

Iconoclastic, intriguing, not always at ease in debates, the one who also chairs the rugby club has built up its battle with former members of the socialist Party, of the actors of the local line, members of The Republic power and people from working class neighborhoods. With a thread : revive employment and foster more solidarity. Away from the political parties that have not supported his approach, Mohed Altrad has never deviated from its path. "We are trying to make me enter in boxes, to impose codes that are not mine. In everything I have undertaken, I am still free, and I intend to stay that way, " explained Mohed Altrad to the Point in may 2019.

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Discomfort among ecologists

To give itself the means of its ambitions, the head of the company has obtained the trust of Rémi Gaillard. Mohed Altrad, including the digital campaign is focused on the dégagisme, will highlight one of the colistières of the youtubeur who defends the animals ' cause. The billionaire has also charmed the new generation of the movement We are. "We found on the side of Mohed Altrad an attentive ear to our measurements, and a grateful look towards our democratic representation, explained Alenka Doulain on Facebook. We are planning a gigantic stimulus package environmentally friendly way to deal with the crisis that comes from putting more than a billion euros on the table. We anticipate an allowance of 1 000 euros to 40 000 on the most fragile of Montpellier. "Something to appeal to also the top of the list of Ecology in common, Clothilde Ollier, ex-mayor of a village located in the hinterland. "We have agreed on the assignment of a score of places on our list, with an equitable distribution of eligible positions for the sharing of power," says one in the entourage of the industrial.

For a large majority of colistiers of Clothilde Ollier, the merger with Mohed Altrad is experienced as a betrayal. "This can not be done in our name ," is it said in a statement that the member BIA Muriel Ressiguier is a signatory.

in the Face of this change, something unexpected that incongruous, Michaël Delafosse plays the card of the candidate " serious ". "Democracy is not a game, but a value," says the councilor of the opposition. And to announce : "Tell me the campaign that I am conducting, I will tell the mayor that I will be. This is not overpricing, which will determine the action of the next mayor. "According to him," Montpellier must break with the years of collapse in providing a governance calming to listen to citizens ".

on The side of the conceiving Philippe Saurel, not a matter of rubbing the hands. The mayor and president of the metropolis has achieved a low score for an outgoing in a big city (19.1 per cent) but wants to be reassuring. "In this time of crisis, I am focused on the management of the city. Today, I have regained my energy that I had lost for two years because of my knee pain. "In Montpellier, the campaign of the municipal has not yet said its last word.