An exhausted elected representative. Pascale Vandamme, mayor of Crespian, a small town of almost 500 inhabitants in the garden, explains 3 regions this Saturday, May 17, why he renounced their duties in early May, while many elected officials no longer hesitate to throw in the towel deplore a very heavy workload and the host of some of its citizens.
In the press release announcing his departure, the former chosen one explains on May 6 to commit to the desire to “be attentive”, “meet the needs of the city” or “open the City Council to all people, to all difficulties.”
“If I had encouraging comments, it was also the receptacle of insults, denigration, humiliation, betrayal,” deplora.
The former scope points in particular to “the magnitude of the tasks, the ‘extended’ schedules, but also” fatigue “, rejecting in advance to all who would see” fragility. “
Pascale Vandamme, who exercises as a nurse, resigned in early May, after being chosen in 2020 for the first time. His mandate should be completed in 2026, the year of the next municipal elections.
“We are on the front line”
“Five years are very long in a life. And five years of mayor, it is even longer, in terms of work breadth, multiplicity of responsibilities,” explains Pascale Vandamme, returning to his deviation from the regions of France 3.
“I did not expect to be loved because we did not appear to be loved. But I did not expect that there is so much aggressiveness in words or forms of humiliation or rejection,” he emphasizes.
“We are in the front line to receive the sadness of the duel of families or the difficulties or anger of not having obtained what they were waiting for,” he said.
A new mayor already in its place
A new choice has already been organized. Alain Trachard, who worked as the first deputy, was elected on Wednesday, May 14. “It is true that we end with great pressure and that we must assume all this,” he estimated, after the resignation of the former scope, to the regions of France 3.
According to a survey published in April on “the intentions of outgoing mayors” and carried out with more than 5,000 of them, 42% of elected officials wish to represent themselves in March 2026, during the next municipal elections.
Only 37% of the mayors of the municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants want to represent 70% of the mayors of the municipalities with more than 9,000 inhabitants, while many councilors denounce both the lack of recognition of the State and the growing requirement of their fellow citizens.
Source: BFM TV
