She has “exhausted herself” with the task: the mayor of Périgueux, Delphine Labails, announces that she is “stepping back” from her mandate

The 49-year-old socialist, elected to lead this town of nearly 30,000 inhabitants in 2020. MAXPPP – Vincent Isore

She has 'exhausted" herself with the task: the mayor of Périgueux (Dordogne), Delphine Labails, announced "to step down" from her mandate to preserve her "health" and her "family balance", in a press release published late Friday evening.

The 49-year-old socialist, elected to lead this town of nearly 30,000 inhabitants in 2020, explains that she feels “the effects of significant professional burnout, which endangers both [her] health and [her] family balance”.

The woman who is also a regional councillor for Nouvelle-Aquitaine and first vice-president of the Greater Périgueux urban area evokes “the considerable energy” required of a mayor, “mainly in rural areas”, the “expectations of the citizens” and the “availability of everything instant”. She also points out the “political battle”, “more difficult and trying when you are a woman”.

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In her press release, Delphine Labails says she has “not saved her energy”, faced with“ever-tighter regulatory constraints, ever-more complex procedures and the restricted financial constraints of local authorities”.

Antoine Audi, leader of the opposition and former right-wing mayor of Périgueux, guest of France Bleu Périgord Saturday morning, considered that the socialist mayor had made a “mistake”, by exhausting herself “by making her term as mayor a political fight.”

Her first deputy takes over

After announcing her withdrawn “for several months”, Delphine Labails indicated that her first deputy would take over in her absence, in accordance with regulations.

At the Congress of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) last month, the Minister for Partnership with Territories Catherine Vautrin indicated that 2,400 mayors – out of a total of around 35,000 in France – had resigned since the start of their term in June 2020, or “40 more per year during this term”.

And 83% of mayors believe that their term “is exhausting for the health”, according to a study conducted in 2024 by Sciences Po and the CNRS for the AMF.

In 2022, an Ifop poll also indicated that more than one in two mayors (55%) did not wish to run again at the end of their term in 2026, a record in twenty years.