Club’s former owner leads the polls in spiky mayoral race but is accused of putting forward ‘nothing of substance’
K
arim Benzema doesn’t often involve himself in French politics. At the end of January, though, the striker gave a glowing endorsement of Jean-Michel Aulas, the former Lyon president who is leading the city’s mayoral race.
“He has everything it takes to do well,” Benzema said in a video played on the news channel LCI as Aulas was being interviewed. “He’s someone who people listen to, he knows where he wants to go and he has a lot of experience,” the former Real Madrid player added. The Lyon-born striker was later joined by Bafétimbi Gomis in showing support for their former boss.
“This is not the candidacy of a party, but that of a Lyonnais,” Aulas announced when he launched his campaign in September. The 76-year-old is looking to oust Grégory Doucet, the Green mayor who was elected six years ago and is leading a left-wing coalition. As Sunday’s first round approaches, the challenger has been consistently leading in the polls, on about 40%. A second round will follow a week later if none of the four main candidates get 50% of the vote.
