This post is also available in: French

20 March 2014 was the date for municipal elections in France, the elections where spread over two parts where the second round took place on 30 March. The French Pirate Party supported 10 candidates during the elections. Despite only a few candidates, the Pirate Party won 2 seats in the first round. One, Freddy Vasseur was elected with a center-right list in Portes-lès-Valence (Act and better living), the other success was Alexis Boudaud, Pirate sympathizer, who was top of the list (eco-citizen) in Auch. Alexis achieved 8.51% and Freddy reached 50.92% with their respective lists.

The Pirate Times managed to attend the inauguration party of the new municipal team at Portes-lès-Valence. Indeed, the council chamber was full of people and all the Pirates, who made the trip to come and assist the hearing, did not manage to enter because of the crowd. The following interview was done the 22nd of April.

Pirate Times : Why did you choose to join a center-right list?
Freddy Vasseur: Only Madame la maire [editors comment: top candidate of the list] was interrested by the program of the Parti Pirate and that is why I was present.

Pirate Times: Did you participate in other municipal meetings (since the first 28th March)?
Freddy: This is already the second, the first was the inauguration, and the last week, the municipal council voted for the budget and the appointments of various committees.

Pirate Times: What were the first Pirates applications for the commune (de Portes-lès-Valence) ?
Freddy: At the moment, concretly, there’s none. But they are currently in elaboration phase, in treatment. Especially, I’m working on the future website for the municipality, with a preference for using free software. This was a part of the Parti Pirate’s program.

That was for the first part. In the second one, it’s participative democracy. Priority is for relaunching the district councils, it’s the first step before talking about liquid democracy; We need to begin by relaunching the participative life in the neighboorhoods, because in the commune they are only two which are still working. Restarting them is my priority.

Pirate Times: When we attented the inauguration, we saw cameras that filmed the council.
Freddy: Every council will be filmed and they will be available on the city’s website.

Pirate Times: Are they already available?
Freddy:The webmaster is editing according to the subjects. It’s better for transparency, everyone should be able to find all the deliberations. It’s the first action inspired by Pirate Party.

Pirate Times: The troubles during the elections have passed away? (A problem because of a program which included more CCTV)
Freddy: Yes, the problem was about all the comments posted on the forum, but now it’s behind us and we will try to move forward.

Pirate Times: Thanks for the interview and good luck with your work in the municipal council. Since the interview, the videos of the municipal meetups are available.

Featured image: CC BY-NC Oleiade

About Florian Farge

I am a pirate from France, in the Rhône-Alpes section of the Parti Pirate (PPFR).
I am translator and proofreader of the French version of Pirate Times.

 

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This post is also available in: French20 March 2014 was the date for municipal elections in France, the elections where spread over two parts where the second round took place…