The tall French business woman who wants to become mayor of Bucharest’s richest district

With local elections due on June 5, and only a week away from the official start of the elections campaign, Bucharest inhabitants are faced with a never before seen decision: should a French business woman take the district mayor seat?

When French Clotilde Armand, the general manager of Egis Romania, signed up to run for the mayor of Bucharest’s District 1, her four kids were upset that she’ll have less time for them. But she told them: "Don’t worry, everything will last only two months and things will be like before." But what if it lasts more than two months? Four years ago, Nicusor Dan, a mathematician and civil society activist, ran for the mayor of Bucharest. He managed to get about 8.5% of the votes, and that was it. So he understood that he needed to build a team for the next elections. This year, the time has come. He has created a party called The Union to Save Bucharest, and in March announced Clotilde Armand as their candidate for the District 1 mayor seat - the richest district in Bucharest. Her name was relatively unknown, except for those working in the business sector. Armand had been the Bucharest general director of Distrigaz Sud Retele, a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ between 2007 and 2010. She is currently the general director of Egis Romania, a French group offering consultancy on infrastructure projects. The first local reactions revolved around her citizenship. How come does a French citizen want to run in the local elections? Clotilde made clear in all her subsequent media interviews that she received the Romanian citizenship last year, that she loves the country and plans to stay here. Just like with any other task in school or at work, Clotilde Armand took her candidature very seriously. Running for mayor means hard work, responsibility ands good communication skills. She responded to all the press invitations and answered confidently to all the questions in Romanian - with a French accent. Armand’s popularity on Facebook went up in just over a month. Her page, created at the beginning of March, had 4,800 likes by mid-April. “The visibility is not attractive to me, but the power, yes,” says Clotilde. “The power to do something good and have the law respected.”