Municipal elections

In a Democracy, a municipal election is an election during which the inhabitants of a commune elect the city council men.

Election of the town council

The modes of election of the communal advisers enormously vary from one country to another, even within the same country.

With the the United States, the municipalities have different modes of elections depending on the States, even from one municipality to another, sometimes but the Voting Rights Act, intended to prevent all Discrimination towards the minorities victims of Racisme, leads so that the Supreme court intervenes to force a municipality to modify its electoral payment, generally in the direction of an abandonment of the system broad At (seats elected by individual candidatures without lists on the whole of the commune) for the majority Uninominal system with a turn, which means that each elected official represents a district or a district of the commune, making possible the cutting of districts " noires" , " hispaniques" or others.

In France

See also: French Municipal election

In France, the electoral system differs according to the size from the common .

In the most important communes (like Paris, Lyon, Marseilles), the municipal council is elected separately by municipal district (but the districts do not have clean assembly nor of financial autonomy).

The mandate of the municipal council is six years, the poll taking place simultaneously in all the common Frenchwomen. Municipal elections (possibly partial in the common to districts) can take place during this 6 years mandate in the event of resignation of the municipal council, without deferring the term of it.

Very major registered on the electoral rolls of the commune can submit itself to the municipal council, as of the old one 18 years. The inscription on the municipal electoral rolls is opened with all the nondeposed citizens of the European Union of their rights of voter in their country. The vote in France is a duty civic, but not obligatory (the non-participation is not sanctioned). The blank vote valid and is hoped to determine the quorum of the votes expressed at the time of the determination of the conditions of sufficient majority to validate the election as of the first turn; however the blank vote (or no one) is not counted like votes expressed, for the simple majority required for the minimum quorum of voice necessary to the presentation of a list to the second turn.

A list presented to the municipal elections can introduce less candidates than of seats to be provided for the municipal council. In the common to districts, the lists can as comprise less candidates as of seats provided by district and there is not obligation to present a list in all the communal districts.

The municipal poll being organized by list, it is not invalidated if a candidate dies, desists or is prevented during the elections. In the event of resignation of one or more city council men during their mandate, the municipal council can remain in place if the representation in voice of the seats remains sufficient.

In the communes of less than 2500 and less than 3500 inhabitants the rules of vote allow the voter a great freedom of choice.

Lyon counts 73 advisers, Marseilles 101 and Paris 163

Election of the chief of the municipal executive (mayor, burgomaster)

The mode of nomination of the burgomaster or Maire varies from one country to another, even of an entity federated with another.

In Belgium, it is also the case for the burgomaster, but thanks to the regionalization of the communal law, the Walloon region introduced a new rule, of application since the elections in 2006, by which the burgomaster will be of office the candidate having obtained the most voice preferably on the list having collected the most voice within the coalition.

In Italy and Bulgaria, there are two simultaneous elections, that of the municipal council to the proportional and that of the mayor to the majority poll with two turns.

With the Netherlands, the Bourgmestre is an official appointed by the government.

With the Canada, the mayor and the advisers are separately elected with the majority poll with a turn for one 4 years period. By tradition, the majority of the candidates are independent except for certain cities of the Quebec where the advisers present themselves under the banner of local parties, not having any political affiliation with those of the province or the federal one.

In France

In France, the mayor is the president of the municipal council and is elected by indirect suffrage among the elected city council men, during an extraordinary assembly having to take place lasting the first week after election of the municipal council or resignation of the mayor ( general Code of the territorial collectivities , Article L2122-4). A French mayor is elected for 6 years (except exceptional case, for example 7 years for the elected officials of 2001, the year 2007 being already filled by the elections presidential and legislative) and can be re-eligible.

In the event of absence of majority to elect a mayor within a Municipal council, or if no municipal council can be indicated (for example in the event of defect of lists at the time of a poll, or of irregularity of poll), the Préfet of department (which represents the executive interests of the Republic within the department) temporarily deals with executive attributions of the municipal council and organizes the new elections (except in the few communes without voters who were preserved for historical reasons symbolic systems, such as certain communes completely devastated by the First World War), and chair it Magistrates' court department takes in charge the legal functions with the mayor.

Alternatives of the local vote for all

To the end of the years 1960, only the owners and the tenants principal had the right to vote in Northern Ireland, which had as a consequence that many catholic Irishmen , subtenants, were private.
In New Zealand, the owner of a building has a vote in the municipality where its good is, in addition to one in that where it resides.
In England, until the end of the years 1940, the head of undertaking had a voice in the municipality where its company was, in addition to one in that where it resided.
In France, the French residing out of France have the right to fit in a commune where they do not reside, either that they were registered there before leaving the territory, or that one the their ascending ones was registered there. In addition, of many French remain registered on the lists of the communes where they were born, which explains why at the time of the municipal elections the number of voters is sometimes by far higher than the number of real residents. The nationals of the European Union can be entitled to vote with the municipal elections.
In the countries of the Benelux, in Germany and in the Scandinavian Pays, all the residents of a commune is reproduced of office on the electoral registers, whereas in France and in the anglophone countries the inscription on the electoral registers is done on voluntary basis, which leads to an high rate of noninscription in the socio-economic layers weakest and among the majority of the ethnic minorities.
In many States or federated entities, certain categories of foreign residents, even all, has under certain conditions (lasted of residence for example) of the right to vote and/or eligibility. It is in particular the case of the Member States of the European Union for their respective nationals, from the Traité of Maastricht.
With the Quebec, all the residents have right to vote, the only condition is to have a place of residence and to be 18 years old. Moreover, the homeless people can use the address of their refuge by the endorsing of this last to vote.

See too

External bonds

Methods of the municipal elections in France
File of French Documentation on the municipal elections of March 2001
Survey on the municipal elections 2008 in France
Questions/answers, cards and jurisprudences about the municipal elections 2008 in France

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