The new voting method for the municipal elections validated by the Constitutional Council

The Constitutional Council validated, Thursday, August 7, a new voting system for the municipal elections in Paris, Lyon and Marseille, whose councilors of the central town halls will now be elected directly, in addition to representatives of districts and sectors.

The members of the Council noted that for these three municipalities, the most populous in France, the legislator was founded to want “Improve the representation of various political sensitivities within [de leurs] deliberative assemblies “, “In accordance with the objective of constitutional value of pluralism of currents of thoughts and opinions”.

The reform, carried by the deputy of Paris Sylvain Maillard (Renaissance) and supported by the government, had been voted in early July by the Assembly despite the hostility of the Senate.

A double election system

It must apply from the municipal election in March 2026, leading to a double election system, and therefore to two ballot boxes, one to elect the members of the Central City Council (Paris Council, Municipal Councils of Lyon and Marseille) – which then elect the mayor -, the other to elect those of the district (in Paris) or the sector (in Lyon and Marseille).

In Lyon, the reform leads to the organization of a triple ballot, since the citizens of the municipalities of the Metropolis of Lyon already vote directly for their metropolitan representatives, at the same time as for their municipal councilors.

In particular seized on this point, the Constitutional Council considered that “The new rules established are not of particular complexity”.

The reform puts an end to the voting system established by the PLM law in 1982: voters in Paris, Lyon and Marseille hitherto voted in each district or sector for a list of advisers, elected officials at the top of the list sitting both in the borough or sector and the council of the central town hall.

But the list arrived in the lead in each arrondissement or sector benefited from a majority premium of 50 %, giving the Council of Paris and the municipal councils of Lyon and Marseille a morphology sometimes far from the results on the scale of the municipality: in 1983, the socialist Gaston Defferre – Inspirator of the law – had been re -elected mayor of the Marseille city thanks to a majority of municipal councilors, although its lists won over the entire city less of voice than those of the right.

This district election system – sometimes compared to that of the American presidential election with large voters in each state – had led the promoters of the reform to denounce these mathematical subtleties, in that they constituted a “Democratic anomaly”.

An “electoral maneuver”

In the capital, the very solid establishment of the left in the boroughs of half is could appear as a “Lock” allowing her to keep her hegemony at the Paris Council since 2001. She has also led the challengers to concentrate their campaigns on the boroughs or sectors deemed key, that is to say likely to switch to a camp or another.

Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, chosen by his family on June 30, said Thursday evening on social network X, take note of the decision and “Reaffirm [s]At the desire to work for the strengthening of local democracy, in particular by maintaining the role of the districts, relay of democracy essential to Parisians ”.

The outgoing socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who does not represent herself, had thus seen in the reform a “Electoral maneuver” and a “Political blow of very low level”. The Parisian PS also considered that the new voting method had been designed to serve the interests of Rachida Dati, the mayor Les Républicains (LR) of 7^e Arrondissement, which does not hide its ambitions to delight the city. The supports of the Minister of Culture agree that this reform increases its chances of succeeding M^me Hidalgo.

It could also allow the National Rally to enter the Paris Council-a single candidate from the National Front (the former party name) having hitherto succeeded in this feat, during the 1995-2001 mandate.

The ecologist mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, candidate for his re-election but competed in the polls by the former boss of Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas, also criticized a reform “Burgling and divisive”.

Conversely, the socialist mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, candidate for his own succession, had praised a new voting system “Who puts an end to a derogatory system that has had its day” et “Was unfair”. The boss of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), and the LR patron of the Marseille metropolitan area, Martine Vassal-the latter being foreseen to be at the top of the list in March-, had raised themselves against the reform.