Daniel Delomez, the mayor of the town of Annezin in northern France, reacted angrily when it became clear that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen had secured a victory in his town during Sunday’s presidential election.
Delomez called the result a “disaster” while speaking with a journalist from the local newspaper L’Avenir de l’Artois. “It’s possible that I will resign because I don’t want to devote my life to assholes,” the mayor was quoted as saying.
Delomez, of the Socialist Party, has served as the town’s mayor since 2008 and was re-elected in 2014. Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, won more than 34% of the vote in Pas-de-Calais department, which includes Annezin. Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in second with 19% of the vote.
The mayor’s comments were widely shared on social media. Many of Le Pen’s opponents praised the mayor for his response while supporters of Le Pen called on Delomez to go ahead and resign. It was not immediately clear whether Delomez, whose term ends in 2020, actually plans to step down.
The first round of France’s presidential election were won by liberal centrist Emmanuel Macron who received 23.9 percent of the vote, followed by Le Pen with 21.4 percent. Macron and Le Pen will both advance to the second and final round on May 7.
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