Overview
- Stéphane Bern was elected president of the Suivez la Flèche association by its 28‑member board on 24 July, a vote that followed the association’s general meeting earlier in the month.
- On Tuesday, July 28, Mayor Bally Bagayoko published a communiqué saying he has commissioned a firm that found multiple statutory breaches in the July renewals and threatened to seek annulment in court.
- Bagayoko and his municipal and territorial majority announced they will not take part in the bureau formed after the election as a protest against what they call irregular procedures.
- One key allegation is that the architecte en chef des Monuments historiques was elected to a voting board seat despite normally having only consultative status and also being paid as the project’s maître d’œuvre, which Bagayoko calls a conflict of interest.
- Stéphane Bern and former mayor Mathieu Hanotin maintain the process was regular and lawfully supported by the association’s legal counsel, leaving the dispute set to move from political confrontation to possible legal and institutional review while the basilica project continues.