Mohed Altrad is a businessman and executive, known notably as the owner and president of Montpellier Hérault Rugby (MHR), as well as the president of the Altrad industrial group. He is also a local media personality in the Montpellier agglomeration due to his economic and sporting role in the territory.

In 2025, as the campaign for the March 2026 municipal elections in Montpellier takes shape, several media outlets reported that Mohed Altrad is inviting citizens to share their ideas with a view to a possible municipal candidacy, before making an official declaration of his candidacy. This initiative is part of a participatory consultation process ahead of a formal decision to run.

At this stage, at the time of writing this page, no complete list or official announcement of candidacy submission has been published by Altrad or his associates, but his name is among those mentioned in the context of the preparation for the municipal elections.

Judicial Context

Mohed Altrad was convicted in December 2022 by the Paris Criminal Court in the context of what is generally called the Laporte-Altrad affair. In this case, he was found guilty of active corruption, influence peddling, and misuse of corporate assets; the court handed him an 18-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of 50,000 euros, as well as an additional penalty of ineligibility.

This conviction, from a first instance, is being appealed; the procedure is still ongoing, with a Court of Appeal hearing scheduled (or postponed) to a later date.

Electorally, the mentioned conviction does not systematically prevent the publication of a candidacy if appeals are pending or if legal conditions for ineligibility evolve with judicial decisions. In France, the effects of an additional penalty of ineligibility can depend notably on its period of application, its confirmation on appeal, and the starting point of its legal duration.

Political Positioning and Intentions

Mohed Altrad is often described as an actor without a traditional partisan label. In the local political sphere, his potential positioning at the head of a municipal list is perceived as an offer distinct from those structured around classic political parties (Socialist Party, La France Insoumise, Ecologists, etc.). He tends to embody a candidacy centered on civil society, the local economy, and municipal governance, although precise programmatic orientations remain to be formalized should a list be officially submitted.

Place in the Montpellier Political Landscape

The rumor or intention of a candidacy by Mohed Altrad occurs in a local context where several competing lists are taking shape:

• a socialist majority around the incumbent mayor;
• left-wing or alternative left candidacies;
• citizen and independent lists;
• right-wing or centrist candidacies.

In the 2020 municipal elections in Montpellier, Mohed Altrad had already led a list presented as non-partisan but federating several local sensibilities, notably featuring individuals from diverse movements and elected officials.

A possible candidacy in 2026 would be perceived as the continuation of a logic of "outside classic parties" candidacy, aiming to gather voters around a municipal project that he would define himself with local contributors.

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