Antoine Rufenacht

Antoine Rufenacht
Antoine Rufenacht in 2010
Mayor of Le Havre
In office 23 June 1995 – 24 October 2010
Preceded by	Daniel Colliard
Succeeded by	Édouard Philippe
President of the Regional Council of Upper Normandy
In office 27 March 1992 – 20 March 1998
Preceded by	Roger Fossé
Succeeded by	Alain Le Vern
Personal details
Born	(1939-05-11)11 May 1939 Le Havre, France
Died	5 September 2020(2020-09-05) (aged 81) Le Havre, France
Political party	RPR UMP The Republicans
Alma mater	ÉNA

Antoine Rufenacht (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃twan ʁyfnak]; 11 May 1939 – 5 September 2020) was a French right-wing (The Republicans) politician and former mayor of Le Havre.

He took the mayoral seat from Daniel Colliard (PCF) at the municipal election of 1995 and was reelected both in 2001, with a comfortable majority, and in 2008, against Daniel Paul (also PCF). He was also president of the local city community (called Communauté d'Agglomération Havraise - CODAH) which groups several municipalities around Le Havre,

Rufenacht was born in Le Havre. A former student of ÉNA, he was a junior minister (Secrétaire d'État) in the government of Raymond Barre, President of the regional council of Upper Normandy, and also a deputy.

Rufenacht's political career began in the then Gaullist party, the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), and he remained in its successor parties, the Rally for the Republic (RPR), the UMP, and most recently, from 2015, the Republicans. In the presidential election of 1981, he backed the former Gaullist prime minister Michel Debré for the presidency against his own party leader, Jacques Chirac, but supported him in 1988 and 1995 and served successfully as his campaign manager for the presidential election of 2002.

With Jacques Barrot, he was seen as one of several possible successors of Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister of France.

In October 2010, he resigned from his post as mayor of Le Havre to be replaced by Édouard Philippe.

Rufenacht died on 5 September 2020, aged 81.