Benoît Payan (born 31 January 1978) is a French politician who has served as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

since 2020. He is a member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

(PS).

Early life

Payan was born and raised in Pont-de-Vivaux, in the

10th arrondissement of Marseille The 10th arrondissement of Marseille is a district (''arrondissement'') in the city of Marseille. The district is located east of the City. It borders the 5th and 12th arrondissement in the north, the 11th in the east, the 9th in the south, th ...

. During his studies to become a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

, he joined the Young Socialist Movement.

Career

Elected as a city councillor in 2014, Payan became leader of the Socialist group and the opposition to conservative mayor

Jean-Claude Gaudin Jean-Claude Gaudin (; born 8 October 1939) is a French politician for The Republicans. He served as the Mayor of Marseille from 1995 to 2020. He was a member of the National Assembly of France from Bouches-du-Rhône from 1978 to 1989 and has ...

in 2016. In 2015, he was also elected a departmental councillor in

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and l ...

. In July 2019, Payan was one of the founders of ''Printemps marseillais'' ("Marseille Spring"), a broad left-wing electoral alliance seeking to end Gaudin's quarter-century in office in the

2020 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

. He criticised the candidacy of Socialist dissenter Samia Ghali, believing it could divide the vote and hand victory to the right by default. Payan's coalition won the election in July, installing

Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...

member Michèle Rubirola as Marseille's first woman and Green mayor. She resigned on 15 December 2020, transferring roles with Payan, her first deputy. On 21 December he was officially voted into office, with support from Ghali's eight councillors and without competition from the right.

Policies

Payan supports the city selling the

Stade Vélodrome The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...

football stadium, but only to its tenants,

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

. He has criticised the environmental impact of

cruise liners Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...

on Marseille. While in opposition, Payan collected 10,000 signatures against a

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...

plan to spend €1 billion demolishing and rebuilding over 30 primary schools.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payan, Benoit 1978 births Living people 21st-century French politicians French city councillors Politicians from Marseille Mayors of Marseille Departmental councillors (France) Socialist Party (France) politicians