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 a ...

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 Franc ...

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. 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 The Movement of the Young Socialists (french: Mouvement des Jeunes Socialistes, MJS) or simply ''Jeunes Socialistes'' is the youth organisation of the Socialist Party of France. MJS was founded in 1993 as a formally independent youth organisation. ...

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 be ...

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 large ...

. 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. He criticised the candidacy of Socialist dissenter

Samia Ghali Samia Ghali (; born 10 June 1968) is a French politician who served as a Senator for Bouches-du-Rhône from 2008 to 2020. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), she also held the mayorship of the 8th sector of Marseille, which comprises the 15th ...

, 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 Michèle Rubirola (born 28 July 1956) is a French politician who served as Mayor of Marseille from 4 July to 21 December 2020. A physician by occupation, she succeeded Jean-Claude Gaudin, who chose not to run for reelection to a fifth term in of ...

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 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 pl ...

. 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