Alexandre Avril

Alexandre Avril (; born 19 April 1992) is a French politician, philosopher, and local official. He has served as mayor of Salbris and president of the Sologne des Rivières since 2020, and as a member of the Regional Council of Centre-Val de Loire since 2021.

In 2024, he was appointed Vice President of the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), a new political movement led by Éric Ciotti, which he joined leaving The Republicans (LR). He is in charge of policy proposals and ideological orientation of the movement.

He is also known for his academic work on Friedrich Nietzsche and René Girard.

In media, Avril has been described as holding right-wing to far-right positions, and faces critics about his conservative views on LGBTQ rights, Islam, immigration and laicity.

Early life and career Avril was born in Romorantin-Lanthenay and grew up in Salbris, in the Sologne region.

His father worked as an accountant and his mother in a sheltered workshop for people with disabilities. His paternal grandfather worked as a factory worker for Matra and his grandmother was a primary schoolteacher in Salbris. Alexandre Avril is the nephew of Jacky Avril, a French slalom canoeist and bronze medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He later worked in finance at the Italian investment bank Mediobanca and founded a consultancy on local development. He also worked as parliamentary assistant to Socialist Party senator Jeanny Lorgeoux. In 2022, he and his wife opened a bookstore in Salbris called Le Temps Retrouvé.

Political career A member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) from 2007, Avril worked on François Fillon's 2017 presidential campaign. In 2017, he launched a digital grievances book for the Sologne region.

In 2020, Avril campaigned under the slogan "United for Salbris" during the municipal elections, as the lead candidate of an independent right-wing list. He was elected mayor during the second round, beating the other list with nearly 58% of electoral votes. In July 2020, he was elected president of the intermunicipal council Sologne des Rivières. In the 2021 regional election in Centre-Val de Loire, he was designated as lead candidate of the Union of the Right and Centre in Loir-et-Cher, and was elected to the Regional Council.

Ahead of the 2024 legislative election, Avril supported Éric Ciotti's alliance with the National Rally. In September 2024, he joined the newly created Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR) as Vice President for studies and program development.

Electoral history

Municipal election

Pavy's list rallied Sauvaget's one before the 2nd round. The list of Avril won 23 municipal council seats and 11 communauté de communes seats. The list of Matho won six MC and two CC seats.

Controversies

LGBTQIA+ Community In June 2022, Avril was accused of anti-Muslim racism and homophobia by the FSU after he made public declarations on CNews and accusations against the organization of a sensibilization day on LGBTQIA+ Community in a Salbris school. In response, he said that "the fight against homophobia is necessary" and "parents asked [him] to intervene".

Immigration In April and May 2024, Avril posted a message on his Facebook page about the murder of Matisse Marchais, a 15-year-old inhabitant of Châteauroux. He linked the murder to what he called "mass immigration". He was supported by far-right activists.

Several local elected people protested against this post. Arguing it was "disrespectful" to use the murder history in "political goal". He responded that "the role of politics is to draw conclusions from what happens. If no conclusion is drawn from the dramas, then the world will never improve".

A few days letter, both mayors of Salbris and Lamotte-Beuvron sent letters to each other about a center for asylum-seekers. The second one said he was schocked by Avril words.

Laicity In December 2024, he accused a professor on X (ex-Twitter) of reporting a failure to comply secularism in a Salbris school because of a Saint Nicholas Day gathering he organised for the children of his town.