Lyon Municipal Elections 2026: Candidates Unveil Key Proposals on Cycling, Commerce, and ViaRhona
Lyon, February 14 – As the March 9 municipal elections draw closer, candidates in Lyon are intensifying their campaigns, revealing a range of proposals centered on urban mobility, local commerce, and infrastructure development. With official candidate lists due by February 26, the political landscape is becoming clearer.
Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi: Advocating for Local Participatory Democracy
During a meeting in Croix-Rousse on Friday, February 6, Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi and the LFI (La France Insoumise) party leaders detailed their program, posing the question: ‘What would an LFI city hall look like in Lyon?’ Belouassa-Cherifi emphasized a commune that ‘restores everyone’s place, guarantees fundamental needs, enables emancipation, and prepares and protects the future,’ with a strong focus on popular participation and citizen democracy.
Key proposals include the implementation of Citizen-Initiated Referendums (RIC), the progressive reintegration of public services, starting with school catering and municipal restaurants, the creation of an observatory for discrimination, the requisition of vacant housing for emergency accommodation, the opening of nine municipal health centers, and the establishment of a museum of colonial history at the Guimet Museum.
Francis Lalanne: An Ineligible but Determined Candidate
Despite being declared ineligible by the Council of State, singer Francis Lalanne, a member of the Spartacus group and a candidate in the 8th arrondissement, confirmed his intention to run for mayor of Lyon and president of the Metropolis. At a press conference on Friday, February 13, he outlined initial proposals, including free nurseries, public transport, canteens, and parking, estimated at 35 million euros. He also suggested tripling municipal police forces and creating a private police force to ‘monitor hot neighborhoods where people are terrorized,’ adding, ‘if there is any money left, we will see about culture.’
Grégory Doucet: Focus on Commerce, Seniors, and Culture
In a letter to shopkeepers on February 9, the ecologist mayor, Grégory Doucet, pledged to improve conditions in the next term. To encourage new businesses, he promised to mobilize ‘available levers’ in public land matters, advocating for the regulation of commercial leases. He also proposed the creation of a single point of contact to ‘inform about procedures and regulations or planned interventions in public spaces.’
Doucet also put forward a ‘Lyon Pact for Seniors,’ with main axes including mobility, housing, access to care, combating isolation, and citizen participation. He proposed creating ten new health centers in Lyon, installing 1,000 new benches on daily routes, and increasing the number of public toilets by 2032. Additionally, he suggested increasing the number of parking spaces for people with reduced mobility and ensuring 100% accessible routes during construction work, along with financial aid for adapting homes to loss of autonomy, aiming for 100% municipal buildings accessible to people with reduced mobility by 2032.
Later in the week, he presented his cultural proposals: free entry to municipal museums on Wednesdays, a free book for children under three, and strengthened support structures for artists. Doucet is expected to present the full program of the left-green alliance on the evening of Monday, February 16.
Jean-Michel Aulas: Proposing a Deputy for Commerce
In an interview with Lyon Entreprises, Jean-Michel Aulas responded to his opponent’s proposals for commerce by suggesting the creation of a deputy for commerce from civil society. For Aulas, ‘the main issue is accessibility.’ He stated, ‘We need to find parking areas that allow people who used to come to continue to come,’ without formulating concrete proposals but mentioning a ‘sharp decline from the moment Lyon’s access was closed.’ He believes that increased parking fees, parking lots, and park-and-ride facilities ‘pose difficulties.’
He also proposed prior consultations for works that might occur during his mandate, with more power for district mayors. Finally, he noted, ‘there are four or five central points that deserve improvements to unblock the most urgent situations. I will make proposals from day one.’
Véronique Sarselli: Reviving the ViaRhona
During a visit to Givors, Véronique Sarselli, the candidate for Grand Cœur Lyonnais, announced her intention to relaunch the development of the missing 18-kilometer section of the ViaRhona, connecting Givors to Oullins-Pierre-Bénite, a project stalled since 2022.
Bruno Bernard: Lyon’s Lanes and Popular Neighborhoods
The outgoing ecologist president, Bruno Bernard, reaffirmed his commitment to continue the ‘Voies Lyonnaises’ project and complete the network by 2035, with at least 100 additional kilometers during the next mandate. This will be accompanied by increased awareness campaigns, communication, controls, and training, including a cycling school to enforce traffic laws.
He also promised 2,000 additional electric Vélo’v bikes and 250 new stations, primarily in first-ring communes and developing neighborhoods, with a ‘mostly electric’ deployment. Furthermore, he proposed extending aid for purchasing adapted bicycles for people with reduced mobility to electric wheel devices for wheelchairs.
Bruno Bernard also presented his proposals for popular neighborhoods: maintaining summer programs as a priority and securing existing metropolitan credits, a multi-year framework to provide visibility for associations, and strengthened coordination with communes to optimize available resources.
Source: https://tribunedelyon.fr/politique/velo-commerces-viarhona-nouvelle-semaine-campagne-lyon/
