Antoine Rufenacht is a French right-wing politician and former mayor of Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

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He is the UMP

Union for a Popular Movement

The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...

 mayor of Le Havre

Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...

 and president of the local city community (called Communauté d'Agglomération Havraise - CODAH), he took the mayoral seat from Daniel Colliard (PCF

French Communist Party

The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...

) in 1995. He was reelected in 2001 with a comfortable majority, but also in 2008 against Daniel Paul.

He is a former student of ENA

École nationale d'administration

The École Nationale d'Administration , one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools , was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials...

, he was a Secrétaire d'État under the of gouvernement Barre

Raymond Barre

Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French centre-right politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three Presidents and later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981...

, President of the regional council

President of the regional council

In Italy, the President of the Regional Council is the Speaker who heads the consiglio regionale of a regione, a state-level territory....

 of Haute-Normandie

Haute-Normandie

Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...

 and deputy.

He led the presidential campaign of Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

 en 2002.

With Jacques Barrot

Jacques Barrot

Jacques Barrot is a French politician, who has served as European Commissioner for Justice , after four years as Commissioner for Transport and Commissioner for Regional Policy for eight months . He is also one of five vice-presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission...

, he was one of the many possible successors of Dominique de Villepin

Dominique de Villepin

Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....

 as Prime Minister of France

Prime Minister of France

The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

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In October 2010, he resigned from his post.