General elections were held in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

on 5 February 2023. The result was a landslide victory for the governing

Monegasque National Union Monegasque National Union (french: Union Nationale Monégasque, UNM) is a Monegasque political list. It ran in the 2023 election, winning all seats in the National Council. The list consists of three parties: Priorité Monaco, Horizon Monaco ...

led by

Brigitte Boccone-Pagès Brigitte Boccone-Pagès (born 8 May 1959) is a Monegasque politician. She was elected as the vice president of the National Council on 22 February 2018. In October 2022, Bocccone-Pagès was elected as President of the National Council, followin ...

, which won all 24 seats on the National Council. The new council was sworn in on 16 February.

Background

The previous elections in February 2018 saw Stéphane Valeri's

Priorité Monaco Priorité Monaco ( en, Priority Monaco), styled Primo! (First!), is a Monegasque political party. It was founded by Stéphane Valeri Stéphane Valeri (born 1 March 1962) is a Monegasque politician and businessman. He served as the president ...

list win 21 of the 24 seats with more than 57% of the vote, with the party taking all seats filled by majority vote and five of the eight filled by proportional representation. Second- and third-placed

Horizon Monaco Horizon Monaco was the ruling coalition of Monaco after the 2013 Monegasque general election, winning 20 of the 24 available seats in the National Council. The coalition, led by Laurent Nouvion, was composed mostly of the conservative Rally & I ...

and the

Union Monégasque Union Monégasque () is a centrist political party in the Principality of Monaco. Union Monégasque was formed in 2013 and is led by Jean-François Robillon. In the most recent elections on February 11, 2018 it won 16.2 percent of the vote and 1 ...

won two and one seats respectively. Valeri announced his retirement from political life in September 2022. He was succeeded by the vice-president of the National Council,

, who became the first woman to take the presidency of the National Council. A month later, she announced the merger of Priorité Monaco, Horizon Monaco and the Union Monégasque into the

(UNM). Deputy

Daniel Boéri Daniel Boéri (born 1 March 1944) is a Monegasque sociologist and politician. He served as a member of the National Council from 2013 to 2023, and is the author of several books. References Living people 1944 births Knights of the Order ...

, who had left

in July 2022, became the only opposition MP after the formation of the UNM. He subsequently founded

New Ideas for Monaco New Ideas for Monaco (french: Nouvelles Idées pour Monaco; NIM), is a Monegasque association and political list. It ran in the 2023 election, led by councilor Daniel Boéri, but did not win any seats. History In July 2022, Daniel Boéri l ...

on 26 October 2022. It campaigned on the themes of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

and starting a public debate on the legalisation of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

Electoral system

Voters can either choose a party list or choose candidates from various lists (

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 ...

) for the 24 seats. The 16 candidates with the most votes are elected (with the older candidate breaking possible ties in votes). The eight other seats are chosen from lists in accordance with the

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 for parties that have at least five per cent of votes.

Contesting parties

Results

By candidate

Analysis

The elections were won by the

, which received nearly 90% of the votes and won all 24 seats on the council. It was the largest landslide victory since that of the

National and Democratic Union Rally & Issues (french: Rassemblement & Enjeux) was a conservative political party in the Principality of Monaco. The party was the main party in the coalition Horizon Monaco after the 2013 Monegasque general election. History The party was e ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, before the formation of the other centre-right party National Progressive Action in 1993. The outgoing president of the National Council,

's mandate, is thus largely renewed. The merger of the parties elected in 2018 into the UNM led to a relative lack of interest among voters for the ballot. With 749 fewer voters than five years earlier despite an increase in the number of voters registered on the lists of 349, voter turnout showed a drop of 13 points, dropping from 70.35% to 57.26%.

Notes

References

{{Monegasque elections

Elections in Monaco

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...