French Municipal elections of 2001

The French municipal elections of 2001 were held the 11 and March 18th.

They were marked by a strong retreat of the left for the benefit of the right , in particular in the popular Ville S but also by some victories symbolic systems of the Socialist party in cities traditionally Conservatrice S and Bourgeois be, marking a notable evolution of the Sociologie French Politique.

If the majority of the cities of more than 100.000 inhabitants remains managed by the line, this one directs nothing any more but three of the five plus big cities of France after the loss of its majority in seat in the towns of Paris and Lyon.

At the conclusion of the second turn, the line controls 318 municipalities of more than 15.000 inhabitants, against 259 for the whole of the left.

Legal tendencies concerning the municipal elections

See also: French Municipal election, Law PLM

Term of the office

The mandate of the city council men is normally fixed at six years, according to the article L. 227 of the electoral code. The mandate of the mayors elected in 2001 was prolonged one year because of the too great proximity with the elections presidential and legislative, of which some feared that it did not create a “electoral cacophony”. The next municipal elections in France will thus be held in March 2008.

Way of voting

The municipal elections in France are controls by a poll proportional with majority premium, with two turns for the communes of 3500 inhabitants or more. The threshold of maintenance to the second turn is fixed at 10% of the votes cast.

For the communes of less than 3500 inhabitants, the city council men are elected with the majority poll.

For the towns of Paris, Lyon and Marseilles, the Circonscription is not the city itself, but the advisers are elected by district.

Participation of the nationals of the European Union

It is at the time of the municipal elections of 2001 that, for the first time, the citizens of the countries of the European Union can at the same time elect the city council men, and be eligible at these stations. This provision was contained in the article 8B Traité of Maastricht.

However, the rights of these citizens are limited by article 88-3 of the Constitution of October 4th, 1958, since they cannot claim at the station of Maire, nor of assistant, and cannot take part in the French Senatorial elections, functions considered as participant of the national Souveraineté.

To be able to be registered on the complementary electoral roll in their commune, the European nationals must:

  • To be 18 years old or more at the day of the fence of revision of the lists
  • To enjoy their civic rights at the same time in France and in their country of origin
  • To have their place of residence in a common Frenchwoman, or to prove that they have resided there in a continuous and effective way for at least six months.

Parity Men/Women

Taking into account the weak participation of the women in the public life fraçaise, the constitutional revision of July 8th, 1999 supplemented the article 3 of Consitution of a Aline who envisages, notwithstanding the principle of equality of the citizens, whom “ the law supports the equal access of the women and the men to the electoral mandates and elective functions ”.

This provision was implemented for the municipal elections of the commune of more than 3500 inhabitants by a modification of the article L 264 of the Electoral code, whose version applicable to the elections of 2001 laid out that “ the difference between the number of the candidates of each sex cannot be higher than one. Within each whole group of six candidates in the order of presentation of the list must appear an equal number candidates of each sex ”.

This reform had an important effect, since the number of women elected in the municipal councils concerned practically doubled, reaching from now on 47,5% of the city council men.

However, the legal mechanism allowed diversions which led so that only 6,6% of the mayors of the cities of more than 3500 inhabitants are women. The provisions of the article L 264 of the electoral code were thus reinforced for the elections of 2008.

Participation

With the first turn, on March 11th, 2001, the rate of abstention is relatively high: 32,7% of the voters registered on the electoral rolls, which corresponds to an increase of 2,1% compared to the municipal elections of 1995.

The second turn, one week later, sees the participation increasing (+ 2,2% compared to the first turn), 69,5% of the registered voters having voted. The rate of abstention from 30,5% is thus the same one as at the time of the elections of 1995, but appreciably higher than for the former elections.

Results by cities

Cities of more than 150.000 inhabitants

Cities of more than 10.000 inhabitants passed from left to right

Cities of more than 10.000 inhabitants passed from right to left

  • Paris: with 4.000 votes of less than the whole of the right-hand side but twelve districts out of twenty of which some were conquered of brave fight (IIe, IXe, XIIe districts), Bertrand Delanoë becomes thus the first mayor of left of the capital.
  • Lyon: with 10.000 votes of less than its adversaries of right-hand side Jean-Michel Dubernard and Charles Million, Gerard Collomb empoche nevertheless six districts out of nine and becomes the first socialist mayor of the capital of Gaules
  • Agen
  • Ajaccio: demolished municipal Bonapartism in front of a list of left on which the prince Charles Napoleon was reproduced.
  • Amboise : defeat of Bernard Debré
  • Auxerre: the town of Jean-Pierre Soisson passes on the left at the time of triangular with two lists of right-hand side
  • Clamart
  • Dijon: François Rebsamen becomes the first socialist mayor of the city since the Second world war
  • Eragny: regained on the left by Dominique Gillot, Secretary of State to the Elderly
  • the Puy-en-Velay
  • Maubeuge
  • Rochefort
  • Sevran
  • Tulle: François Holland takes again a town hall, carried traditionally on the left by Raymond-Max Aubert (RPR) in 1995
  • Villers-the-Nancy: Pascal Jacquemin (PS) carries it vis-a-vis the outgoing senator-mayor, Jean Bernadaux within the framework of a " pentagonale" (maintenance of 5 lists to the second turn including 3 lists of right-hand side, 1 list of plural left and 1 list of extreme-left)).

Results by political families

Left (PC, PS, Greens)

  • Communist party
After the loss of the Harbor to the preceding municipal elections, the Communist party loses the cities which he had managed to reconquer in 1995 (Ciotat, Sète, Nimes) like some of his bastions (Drancy, Argenteuil, Dieppe, Montlucon).

The profits of Sevran or Arles (with depend on the Socialist party) are not enough to reverse the progressive collapse of “municipal Communism”, a tendency already started since the poll of 1983 (loss of Nimes, of Sète, Rheims, Levallois-Perret, Antony, Sevres…) and confirmed in 1989 with the loss of Amiens.

  • Socialist party

The Socialist party, as for him, on the whole loses 23 cities of more than thirty thousand inhabitants (by entering the profits), whereas several personalities of the party undergo a defeat cuisante. Thus, Catherine Trautmann, Minister for the Culture, is not seen re-electing with Strasbourg, just like Jack Lang with Blois. Avignon, Elisabeth Guigou fails vis-a-vis the mayor outgoing, Marie-Josée Roig. Martine Aubry becomes mayor of Lille only with 49,6% of the voices (and a rate of abstention from 53%) in this city historically acquired with the Socialists. The victories in several cities like Ajaccio, Auxerre (definitely helped by the presence of two right-wing candidates to the second turn), Dijon, or Living room-of-Provence, and more still with Paris and Lyon, do not counterbalance the recorded losses.

  • the Greens

The Greens, them, progress in an important way as of the first turn of the poll. They carry Saumur. That confirms a rebalancing of the power struggle in the plural left, the Greens emerging like the second most important party after the Socialist party, with depend on the Communists. With Besancon, they obtain more than 16% of the voices.

With Paris and Lyon, their rallying with the list PS is a big factor in the victory of the list of left.

Extreme left (LO, LCR)

  • Workers' struggle
Workers' struggle presented 128 lists in 109 different cities, which collected 4,37% of the votes, that is to say 120.347 votes. LO thus obtains 33 elected officials including 11 women, in 22 different cities, without amalgamating its lists with the second turn with the plural left.

  • Communist revolutionary league

The Communist revolutionary league has " présenté" or " soutenu" (according to its terms) 91 lists, commune with various partners (associative…) entitled " 100% on the left " , " All together on the left " or " On the left Autrement". She obtained 4.52%, that is to say 93.182 votes. With the first turn, these lists obtained 26 elected officials. Several lists then amalgamated with lists of the plural left, including control by the MDC of Chevènement. To note that in spite of the presence of the LCR, some of these lists refused name " extreme gauche" , as the list " On the left Autrement" from Lyon.

Right-hand side (RPR, UDF, DLL)

The parliamentary line compensates for the defeats which it underwent in Lyon and Paris by important profits: it gains forty additional municipalities of more than 15.000 inhabitants (out of 583 on the whole) in addition to those which it controlled already, and charms with the left several towns of 30.000 inhabitants, among whom: It preserves finally the towns of Toulouse, Marseilles and Nice with the victory of the lists carried out by Philippe Douste-Blazy in the first (55% of the votes), by Jean-Claude Gaudin in the second (48,5% of the votes, are a total of 61 seats, out of 101, at the municipal council) and by Jacques Peyrat in the last (44,48% of the votes).

Nationalists (FN, MNR)

In 1995, the candidates of the National front or MNR had carried the towns of Toulon, Marignane, Orange then Vitrolles in 1997.

In 2001, Jean-Marie Le Chevallier, mayor of Toulon (ex-FN) is beaten as of the first turn, obtaining only 7,78% of the votes. Hubert Falco (UDF) takes again the city for the line with 68,73% of the voices against the deputy Odette Casanova (31,27%).

The Orange mayor Jacques Bompard (FN) is re-elected as of the first turn and that of Marignane, Daniel Simonpieri (MNR), with the second turn with 62,52% of the votes, against 37,48% for Guy Martin (DLL).

In Vitrolles, Catherine Mégret (MNR) is initially re-elected with 45,32% of the voices compared with 44,07% for Dominique Tichadou (PS, Plural left) but its election is invalidated thereafter. It will be finally beaten by Guy Obino (PS) in 2002.

Notes and references of the article

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