At the National Assembly, a nine-month walk across France, support for the Yellow Vests: Jean Lassalle has impacted the political scene with his daring actions and his distinct accent from Béarn. A portrait of a Pyrenean who has made his uniqueness his trademark.
Standing at 1.92m, Jean Lassalle is hard to miss. With the build of a rugby player, a firm handshake, and a singing Béarn accent, even those not involved in politics know him. At 70 years old today, the former deputy has established himself over the years as a unique figure in the Fifth Republic.
Born to farmers in 1955 in Lourdios-Ichère, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, he became a mountain shepherd. His political career began in 1977: at just 21 years old, Jean Lassalle was elected mayor of his village. At the time, he was one of the youngest mayors in France, and he kept the tricolor sash for almost forty years, until July 2017. In parallel, he entered the general council of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in 1982 and it was there that he met François Bayrou, whom he became very close to and supported in the 2007 presidential election.
A regular with political stunts
Throughout his mandates, Jean Lassalle has become a master of political stunts. In 2003, to defend the maintenance of 23 gendarmes near the Somport tunnel, at the border between Spain and France, and to confront the then Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, he sang “Se Canto” in Occitan. In the hemicycle, President Jean-Louis Debré was irritated, but the image remained.
Three years later, he turned the Palais Bourbon into a camp. On March 7, 2006, he began a hunger strike in the Salle des Quatre Colonnes to denounce the relocation of a factory in the Aspe Valley (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). In five weeks, Jean Lassalle lost 21kg and was urgently hospitalized. Ultimately, the relocation project was abandoned after the intervention of President Jacques Chirac. Another striking stunt that made him very popular among politicians who considered that he put his body at the service of his commitment.
A defender of rurality
But Jean Lassalle also sees himself as a man of the people. In 2013, for nine months, he traveled the country to collect the voices and grievances of the French, which he transcribed in “notebooks of hope.” Five years later, the “Yellow Vests” movement emerged, and he supported it. During a session at the National Assembly, he put on the famous fluorescent vest, which earned him a hefty fine of 1,500 euros, but the image, once again, remained.
Having run for president twice, in 2017 and 2022, and the founder of the “Résistons” movement, Jean Lassalle received 3.1% of the votes, more than a million votes. However, the former deputy has never strayed from what defines him: the Southwest, his land, and his people. In Lourdios-Ichère, his native village where he was mayor for forty years, he remains first and foremost “Jean,” the local boy who became a national figure. True to his preference for direct contact, the man from Béarn has now chosen a new platform: the stage with his show “Jean dans la salle,” where he recounts his extraordinary journey. The political arena brought him recognition, the theater will say if he can still surprise.
