Georges Lemoine (politician)

Georges Lemoine
Lemoine in 1981
Deputy of the French National Assembly
In office
12 June 1997 – 18 June 2002
Preceded byGérard Cornu
Succeeded byJean-Pierre Gorges
ConstituencyEure-et-Loir's 1st constituency
In office
2 April 1986 – 1 April 1993
Succeeded byGérard Cornu
ConstituencyProportional representation (1986–1988)
Eure-et-Loir's 1st constituency (1988–1993)
In office
3 April 1978 – 24 July 1981
Preceded byClaude Gerbet
Succeeded byJean Gallet
ConstituencyEure-et-Loir's 1st constituency
Mayor of Chartres
In office
25 March 1977 – 27 January 1998
Preceded byJean Laillet
Succeeded byJean-Louis Guillain
Member of the General Council of Eure-et-Loir for the Canton of Chartres-Sud-Est
In office
1 April 1994 – 21 March 2008
In office
5 October 1973 – 7 October 1988
Personal details
Born(1934-06-20)20 June 1934
Rouen, France
Died25 July 2025(2025-07-25) (aged 91)
Caen, France
Political partyPS (1971–2008)
POI (2008–2025)
EducationÉcole normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud
OccupationDocent

Georges Lemoine (French: [ʒɔʁʒ ləmwan]; 20 June 1934 – 25 July 2025) was a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) and the Independent Workers' Party (POI).[1]

Life and career

Early life and early political career

Born in Rouen on 20 June 1934,[2] Lemoine attended the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud.[3] He became a docent and joined the Convention of Republican Institutions, led by François Mitterrand, in 1965.[4] He had his first experience in politics when he stood on the centre-left list in Dreux in the 1971 municipal elections. However, he was not elected and thereafter joined the PS. In 1973, he unsuccessfully stood in Eure-et-Loir's 1st constituency.[5] He was finally successful in the 1973 cantonal elections, representing the Canton of Chartres-Sud-Est. In 1977, he was elected mayor of Chartres and won a seat in the National Assembly in 1978.[6]

First term as mayor of Chartres

During his first term as mayor of Chartres, Lemoine created a plan to expand the city's hotel capacity despite opposition from the Confédération nationale des hôteliers.[7] In 1980, he inaugurated the Centre international du vitrail in the presence of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.[8] He entered into a dispute with deputy mayor André Heitz and resigned to separate himself from the deputy, but was re-elected by the municipal council on 12 October 1981, which allowed him to pick a new deputy mayor.[9]

State Secretary

After the 1981 presidential election, which saw a victory by socialist François Mitterrand, Lemoine was appointed State Secretary of Industry, a position he held for only one month. He was re-elected in that year's legislative election, but resigned his seat to participate in other executive roles.[10]

Re-election as mayor of Chartres

In 1988, Lemoine launched the "Centre international médiéval" to highlight the city's heritage.[11] The project envisaged the development of a 15,000 m2 museum of religious art underneath the Chartres Cathedral.[12] An archeological excavation site was launched in 1990, followed by architectural completion in 1993, but the project was never completed.[13] During the 1989 elections, he was re-elected as mayor in the first round. In 1991, he created a 200-hectare business park near the A11 autoroute to attract business to the city.[12]

Disagreements with the PS

Lemoine founded his own political club, the Union républicaine pour l'Eure-et-Loir (UREL) in 1992.[14] That year, he refused to lead the PS in the cantonal elections.[14] During the 1993 legislative election, he was beaten by Rally for the Republic candidate Georges Cornu.[15] In the 1994 cantonal elections, he refused to run as a PS candidate, but still won a mandate under the UREL label.[16]

After temporarily resolving his disputes with the PS, he was re-elected as mayor of Chartres in 1995.[17] However, the town had begun to experience financial difficulties, made public by a Chambre régionale des comptes report in 1996.[18] He then took drastic measures, raising taxes and strictly controlling expenditures, to avoid supervision of the city's finances by the Prefect.[19] In 1997, he narrowly won back his seat in the National Assembly.[20] To avoid holding multiple mandates, he resigned as mayor of Chartres the following year, though he remained president of the District de Chartres, which became the Communauté d'agglomération Chartres Métropole in 2000.[21]

Loss of municipal and national mandates

Lemoine suffered defeats in the 2001 municipal elections and the 2002 legislative elections. He did not advance to the second round in the Chartres mayoral race, which was eventually won by Jean-Pierre Gorges.[22] Gorges also defeated him in the second round in the following year's legislative election.[23]

Political decline

After his election defeats, Lemoine was removed as PS leader in Eure-et-Loir in favor of deputy Jacky Jaulneau. He maintained his general council seat in the 2004 cantonal elections, but lost it in 2008.[24] He also unsuccessfully ran for the National Assembly in 2007. However, that election was invalidated following fraud discovered by Jean-Pierre Gorges and Lemoine contested the seat again.[25] He withdrew from the PS and gained the support of the Independent Workers' Party.[26] However, he did not advance to the second round. In 2011, he attempted to gain a spot back in the General Council of Eure-et-Loir, but only received 5.74% of the votes.[27]

After politics

After his retirement from politics, he faced difficult times, and was arrested for public intoxication on a train in 2013.[28] He was interviewed during the 2014 municipal elections and expressed regret that his plan for a historical research centre on the Chartres Cathedral square had never come to fruition.[29]

Death

Lemoine died in Caen on 25 July 2025, at the age of 91.[30]

Distinctions

  • Knight of the Legion of Honour (1994)[31]
  • Médaille d'honneur de l'engagement ultramarin (Medal of Honor for Overseas Commitment) (2022)[32]

References

  1. ^ Feuilleux, François (25 July 2025). "L'ancien ministre et ancien maire de Chartres Georges Lemoine est décédé". L'Écho républicain (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  2. ^ Who's Who in European Politics. Bowker-Saur. 1990. ISBN 978-0-86291-911-5.
  3. ^ "Georges LEMOINE". École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (in French).
  4. ^ "Secrétaires d'État auprès d'un ministre Énergie M. GEORGES LEMOINE". Le Monde (in French). 25 May 1981. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Le parti socialiste a publié une nouvelle liste de candidats". Le Monde (in French). 2 October 1972. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  6. ^ Souriau, Luc (13 May 1995). "Chartres : Georges Lemoine brigue un quatrième mandat". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  7. ^ Thizeau, Jacques (11 October 1980). "Chartres, ville de congrès ?". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  8. ^ Edelman, Frédéric (4 July 1980). "OUVERTURE DU CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DU VITRAIL Le bleu de Chartres". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  9. ^ "M. Lemoine (P.S.) est réélu maire de Chartres". Le Monde (in French). 14 October 1981. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  10. ^ "Les circonscriptions : Chartres". TF1 (in French). 15 June 1981. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  11. ^ Béguin, Claire (2 November 2022). "Qu'avait-on trouvé lors des fouilles archéologiques du parvis de la cathédrale de Chartres, entre 1990 et 1992 ?". L'Écho républicain (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  12. ^ a b Dumay, Jean Paul (5 July 1993). "CITÉS CHARTRES Entre deux siècles". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  13. ^ Petit, Marie-Laure (October 2017). "Les abords de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres : passé, présent, futur". La Pierre d’Angle (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  14. ^ a b "La préparation des élections régionales Eure-et-Loir : le " drame shakespearien " de M. Lemoine". Le Monde (in French). 20 February 1992. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  15. ^ "ésultats des législatives de 1993 : 1ère circonscription de l'Eure-et-Loir". Politiquemania (in French).
  16. ^ "" Qu'il était sanglant mon Parti socialiste chartrain… "". La Piquoise (in French). 24 July 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  17. ^ Godet, Michel (2012). La France des bonnes nouvelles (in French). Odile Jacob. p. 91.
  18. ^ "" Qu'il était sanglant mon Parti socialiste chartrain… "". La Piquoise (in French). 27 July 2025. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  19. ^ Eymery, Audrey (27 January 2005). ""Du rififi au PS". Le Point (in French).
  20. ^ "Résultats des législatives de 1997 : 1ère circonscription de l'Eure-et-Loir". Politiquemania (in French).
  21. ^ Berkovicius, Christine (27 December 1999). "Chartres transformera au 1er janvier son district en communauté d'agglomération". Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Municipales 2001 : Le point à Chartres (28 - Eure-et-Loir)". Votants (in French).
  23. ^ "RESULTATS DES ELECTIONS LEGISLATIVES". Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  24. ^ "Résultats des élections cantonales 2008". Ministry of the Interior (in French). 16 March 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Georges Lemoine (ex-PS) candidat à la législative partielle d'Eure-et-Loir". Les Echos (in French). 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  26. ^ "Législative partielle : Nicole Mas (POI) se retire au profit de Lemoine…". La Piquoise (in French). 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  27. ^ "Résultats des élections cantonales 2011". Ministry of the Interior (in French).
  28. ^ Desserre, François (27 November 2013). "L'ancien secrétaire d'Etat Georges Lemoine arrêté ivre dans un train". Actu.fr (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  29. ^ Fortunet, Yves (4 March 2014). "Georges Lemoine en 2014 : "J'aurais souhaité créer un centre d'histoire et de recherches sur le parvis de la cathédrale"". L'Écho républicain (in French). Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  30. ^ "Georges Lemoine, ancien ministre et ex-maire de Chartres, est mort à l'âge de 91 ans". Le Monde (in French). 25 July 2025. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  31. ^ "LEGION D'HONNEUR". Le Monde (in French). 16 July 1994. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  32. ^ "BODMR n° 02 du 25/04/2022". Journal officiel de la République française (in French). 25 April 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
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