The 2020 French municipal elections were held from 15 March to 28 June to renew the
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
s of the approximately 35,000 French communes.
The first round took place on 15 March and the second round was postponed to 28 June due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Electoral system
Municipal elections in France result in the renewal of the members of
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
s in every commune, and are held every 6 years. With the exception of Paris,
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, and
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, the electoral subdivision is the commune itself. In Paris, separate elections are held for each
arrondissement
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...
, as is the case in Lyon, where elections are also held by
arrondissement
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...
; in Marseille, elections are held within sectors containing two
arrondissements
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'', ...
each.
Election is open to European citizens living in the country, but since 2020, 800 English/British people have lost their electoral capacities due to
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
.
The number of municipal councillors within each commune is dependent upon its population, from a minimum of 7 for communes with a population less than 100 to 69 for those with a population of 300,000 or more (with the exception of the three largest cities). The electoral system within each commune is also dependent on its population.
In communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, two-round
majority-at-large voting with
panachage
Panachage (, from French meaning "blend, mixture") is the name given to a procedure provided for in several open-list variants of the party-list proportional representation system. It gives voters more than one vote in the same ballot and allows ...
is used, with candidates elected in the first round should they receive an absolute majority of votes cast and at least a quarter of the number of individuals registered on the electoral rolls. The remaining seats are filled in the second round, in which only a plurality of votes is required to be elected. The requirement for gender parity is also void in these smaller communes.
In communes with 1,000 or more inhabitants, electoral lists contest a two-round
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
system with a majority bonus. Should a list receive an absolute majority of votes cast in the first round, it will receive half of all seats and the rest of the seats will be distributed proportionally among electoral lists with at least 5% of votes using the
D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
. If a second round is necessitated, only lists which received at least 10% of valid votes in the first round proceed, and may merge with other lists which received at least 5% of votes cast in the first round. Seats are then allocated using the same method as the first round, guaranteeing a majority for the list with a relative majority of votes.
In the three largest cities, the election of municipal councils and arrondissement councils takes place simultaneously, and follow the same electoral method as that for communes with 1,000 or more inhabitants within each electoral division (whether arrondissement or sector). Mayors are elected in a two-round secret ballot requiring an absolute majority, and otherwise with a plurality of votes from municipal councillors if a third round is required.
The election of councillors to intercommunal structures also takes place concurrently with the municipal elections; in communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, they are chosen "in the order of the table" (mayors, deputy mayors, and councillors), while in larger communes, they are elected simultaneously.
The number of municipal councillors elected in each commune is determined as a function of its population, ranging from 7 to 69 in all communes except for the three largest cities.
Opinion polls
National
The Harris Interactive poll was based on communes with a population of at least 10,000.
By commune
Bordeaux
The April 2018 and May 2019 Ifop polls were commissioned by Esprit Bordeaux, an association founded by supporters of
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the coun ...
, later backing
Nicolas Florian.
Lille
= First round
=
The March 2019 OpinionWay poll was sponsored by
The Republicans, while
La République En Marche!
Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...
commissioned the BVA poll conducted in October 2018, which did not specify a specific LR candidate.
= Second round
=
Lyon
Marseille
The February 2019 Ifop poll was commissioned by ''Génération engagement'', the financing association of
Bruno Gilles
Bruno Gilles (born 26 December 1960) is a French politician who represented the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Senate from 2008 to 2020. A former member of The Republicans, he joined Horizons in 2021. Gilles previously served as the membe ...
, the PollingVox polls by ''l'Association des Amis de
Martine Vassal
Martine Vassal (née Gilles, 29 March 1962) is a French politician who has presided over the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis since 2018. A member of The Republicans (LR), she succeeded Jean-Claude Gaudin in office, who resigned to focus on his ...
'' (with Bruno Gilles as a miscellaneous right candidate in June 2019), and the February 2018 Ifop poll by ''Cap sur l'avenir 13'', the micro-party of
Renaud Muselier
Renaud Muselier (born 6 May 1959) is a French physician and politician who has served as President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur since 2017. A former member of The Republicans (LR), he previously was a Member of the Euro ...
.
Marseille's 5th sector
The May 2019 BVA poll was commissioned by ''Les amis de Lionel Royer-Perreaut'', the micro-party of its namesake.
Montpellier
The March 2018 Ifop poll was commissioned by
Mohed Altrad
Mohed Altrad ( ar, محمد الطراد) is a French-Syrian billionaire businessman, rugby chairman and writer, born c. March 1948. He was born to a very young mother and his Bedouin father gave him away to his grandparents at age four followin ...
.
Mulhouse
The September 2018 OpinionWay poll was paid for by the city of Mulhouse and the outgoing majority led by
Michèle Lutz.
Nancy
The June 2019 Ifop poll was conducted on behalf of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS).
= First round
=
= Second round
=
Nanterre
Nantes
The June 2019 Ifop poll was conducted on behalf of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS).
= First round
=
= Second round
=
Nice
= First round
=
The Ifop poll conducted in December 2017 tested a "miscellaneous right and centre of the municipal majority" list led by
Christian Estrosi
Christian Paul Gilbert Estrosi (born 1 July 1955) is a French sportsman and politician who has served as Mayor of Nice since 2017, previously holding the office from 2008 to 2016. A former professional motorcyclist, he served as a government min ...
in the event that
Éric Ciotti
Éric Ciotti (, ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who has represented the 1st constituency of Alpes-Maritimes in the National Assembly since 2007 and is the president of The Republicans since 2022. Ciotti previously briefly serv ...
headed a list representing
The Republicans (LR) as well as considering Robert Injey as heading a list for
La France Insoumise
La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aim ...
, and was commissioned by ''Les Amis de Christian Estrosi''.
= Second round
=
Nîmes
= First round
=
= Second round
=
Paris
The March 2019 Ifop poll did not name a specific EELV candidate. The January 2019 Viavoice poll was conducted for
La République En Marche!
Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...
, and did not test any potential candidates other than
Benjamin Griveaux
Benjamin-Blaise Griveaux (; born 29 December 1977) is a French politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who served as Government Spokesman from 2017 to 2019 under Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. From 2017 until 2021, he also served as ...
. The September 2018 Ifop poll scenario including
Cédric Villani
Cédric Patrice Thierry Villani (; born 5 October 1973) is a French politician and mathematician working primarily on partial differential equations, Riemannian geometry and mathematical physics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010, and he w ...
was commissioned by CFHJ, owned by a friend of Villani, and the June 2019 Ifop poll was also conducted on behalf of Villani.
= First round
=
= Second round
=
Perpignan
Toulon
Toulouse
2019 European elections in communes with at least 100,000 inhabitants
Results
Both
La République En Marche!
Renaissance (RE), previously known as La République En Marche ! (frequently abbreviated LREM, LaREM or REM; translated as "The Republic on the Move" or "Republic Forward"), or sometimes called simply En Marche ! () as its original name, is a l ...
and
National Rally
The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a Far-right politics, far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as fa ...
lost numerous seats and mayorships. La République En Marche! managed to retain mayorship of
Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
by the Prime minister
Edouard Philippe (he resigned national position on 3 July). National Rally by itself lost about half of its representatives.
Louis Aliot
Louis Aliot (; born 4 September 1969) is a French politician, a lawyer by profession, and the vice president of the National Rally (previously named National Front) since 16 January 2011. A member of the FN Executive Office, Executive Committee a ...
became the first National Rally Mayor in
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...
with a city of more than 100,000 people (although Aliot ran as independent).
Les Republicains also suffered losses. Most of them were in large cities, where mayorships were lost to the Greens, although Les Republicains lost seats to the National Rally in small towns.
The Greens made significant gains in the election. They triumphed in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
,
Nancy,
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
and
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
.
Anne Hidalgo
Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party.
Hidalgo served as First Deputy Mayor of Paris ...
and
Martine Aubry
Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor of Lille (No ...
retained their respective mayoralties of Paris and
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
. Including them, female candidates won in half of France's largest cities.
Only 40% of the electorate participated in the second round,
a significant drop from the prior local elections, likely due to concerns regarding the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Marie Cau was elected the first transgender mayor in France, in
Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes
Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes (, literally ''Tilloy near Marchiennes'') is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region, Northern France. In 2018, it had a population of 516.
History
In March 2020, Marie Cau won a majority of votes ...
.
National results
Communes with at least 70,000 inhabitants
Incumbent mayors marked with an asterisk (*) did not seek another term in 2020.
See also
*
2020 Paris municipal election
The 2020 Paris Municipal election was a municipal election that took place in Paris on 15 March 2020, alongside other French municipal elections. The second round, which was originally scheduled to be held on 22 March 2020, was postponed due t ...
*
2022 French presidential election
The 2022 French presidential election was held on 10 and 24 April 2022. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held, in which Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen and was re-elected as President of France. Macron, f ...
*
2019 European Parliament election in France
The 2019 European Parliament election in France were held on 26 May 2019 (and on 25 May in parts of overseas France and for some nationals abroad), electing members of the 9th French delegation to the European Parliament as part of the elections h ...
References
External links
{{2020 French municipal elections, state=show
Municipal
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...