Michèle Rubirola (born 28 July 1956) is a French politician who 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 ...

from 4 July to 21 December 2020. A physician by occupation, she succeeded

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 ...

, who chose not to run for reelection to a fifth term in office and endorsed his long-term deputy

Martine Vassal Martine Vassal (née Gilles, 29 March 1962) is a French politician who has presided over the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis since 2018. A member of The Republicans (LR), she succeeded Jean-Claude Gaudin in office, who resigned to focus on his ...

, who lost the mayorship race following the

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

in June 2020. A member of

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 ...

(EELV), Rubirola is the first female Mayor of Marseille. Her grandparents came from

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. On 15 December 2020 she announced her resignation from the mayorship for health reasons. She was succeeded by First Deputy Mayor

Benoît Payan Benoît Payan (born 31 January 1978) is a French politician who has served as Mayor of Marseille since 2020. He is a member of the Socialist Party (PS). Early life Payan was born and raised in Pont-de-Vivaux, in the 10th arrondissement of Marse ...

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 th ...

, whom she succeeded as First Deputy Mayor on 21 December 2021. Rubirola previously held a seat in the

Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône The Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône (; ), sometimes abbreviated "CD 13" (in reference to Bouches-du-Rhône's INSEE and postal number), is the deliberative assembly of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône. It consists of 58 members ...

from 2015 to 2021, elected in the canton of Marseille-1 alongside Payan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubirola, Michele 1956 births Living people French people of Italian descent French people of Spanish descent 21st-century French women politicians Mayors of Marseille Aix-Marseille University alumni The Greens (France) politicians Europe Ecology – The Greens politicians 20th-century French physicians 20th-century French women Women mayors of places in France Physicians from Marseille Departmental councillors (France) French city councillors