The Council of Paris (
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the
deliberative body responsible for governing
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, the capital of
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 ...
. It possesses both the powers of a
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 ...
(''conseil municipal'') and those of a
departmental council (''conseil départemental'') for the ''département de Paris'', as defined by the so-called PLM Law (''Loi PLM'') of 1982 that redefined the governance 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 ...
(hence the PLM
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
). Paris is the only
territorial collectivity in France to be both a ''commune'' and a ''département''.
The
Mayor of Paris
The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...
presides over the Council of Paris and therefore holds the powers of mayor and of president of the departmental council. There are currently
163 councillors for Paris.
History
Although the history of Paris spans millennia, that of its municipal government, in its present form, is less than half a century old. Paris and its environs were always governed directly by the highest French
polity
A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...
of the time: the Crown before the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, and a state-appointed ''préfet'' (governing the
Seine
)
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, mouth_coordinates =
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, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
) afterwards. The office of mayor of Paris existed for brief periods during the 18th and 19th centuries, but was not an institution of government before 1977.
From the creation of the mayoral office in 1977 until 2019, Paris functioned as both a ''commune'' and as a ''département'', and had a unique method for governing both; the Council of Paris, with the Mayor of Paris as its president, met either as a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') or as a departmental council (''conseil général''/''conseil départemental'') depending on the issue to be debated.
In 2017, the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
passed a law merging the functions of the commune and department into the City of Paris (''Ville de Paris''), which came into effect on January 1, 2019.
The modern administrative organization of Paris still retains some traces of its previous incarnation as the government of the
Seine
)
, mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur
, mouth_coordinates =
, mouth_elevation =
, progression =
, river_system = Seine basin
, basin_size =
, tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle
, tributarie ...
''département''. France's national government still controls the
Paris Police Prefecture (''Préfecture de police''), which also has authority over the
Paris Fire Brigade, for example, and has jurisdiction extending to the ''petite couronne'' (small corona or halo) of Paris, the three bordering ''départements'' (
Seine-Saint-Denis,
Hauts de Seine, and
Val de Marne
Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a pop ...
) for some operations such as fire protection and
rescue operations. Paris has no municipal police force, although it does have its own brigade of
traffic wardens.
Electoral system & composition
The commune is divided into 17
electoral districts representing the 20
municipal arrondissements (''arrondissements municipaux'') in which voters simultaneously elect members of the district council (''conseil d'arrondissement'') and city council (''conseil municipal''). After the 2020 municipal election, arrondissements
1,
2,
3 &
4 were merged into a single electoral district called "Paris Centre".
No district elects fewer than 10 district members and 3 council members, nor more than 40 district members and 18 council members. There are 354 district council members and 163 council members in all.
[ A number of members from each district council — roughly half the seats in each council, as well as those at the top of the party lists in those districts — are elected to and simultaneously serve as city council members, forming 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 ...
called the Council of Paris. The council elects the Mayor of Paris
The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...
the week after the municipal election, requiring an absolute majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
of councillors in the first or second round, or by a plurality in the third round if necessary.[
The districts and city council are elected using ]closed
Closed may refer to:
Mathematics
* Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set
* Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points
* Closed interval, ...
party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...
in a two-round system
The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...
with a majority bonus. A party list which garners an absolute majority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
in the first round of an election in which at least 25% of registered voters participates automatically wins half of all seats in the arrondissement, with the remaining half distributed proportionally 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- ...
to all lists receiving over 5% of the vote, including the winning list. If no party list meets these requirements in the first round, a second round is scheduled a week later. All lists which have won over 10% of the vote in the first round are qualified to run in the second. In addition, any other lists which have won at least 5% of the vote in the first round can merge with qualified lists for the second, but are not required to do so. In the second round, only a plurality is needed to win the majority bonus. This electoral system means a party list may receive a majority of seats in an arrondissement without winning an absolute majority of votes.
Councillors elected for the 2014–2020 term
This table summarises the 163 councillors elected in the 2014 Paris municipal election
Municipal elections in Paris took place on 23 and 30 March 2014, at the same time as other French municipal elections.
Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party was elected mayor of Paris, becoming the first woman to hold that position. She had been t ...
.
See the list of Paris councillors for the full list.
See also
* Administration of Paris
*List of Paris' councillors (2014–2020)
This page presents the current and previous members of the Council of Paris, who are elected for a six-year term.
2014–2020 councillors
This list presents the 163 councillors of Council of Paris elected in the 2014 Paris municipal election.
...
*Municipal arrondissements of France
In France, a municipal arrondissement ( ) is a subdivision of the commune, and is used in the country's three largest cities: Paris, Lyon and Marseille. It functions as an even lower administrative division, with its own mayor. Although usually r ...
* Paris Fire Brigade
*Prefecture of Police In France, a Prefecture of Police (french: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (''Préfet de police''), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National Pol ...
*Seine (department)
Seine was the former department of France encompassing Paris and its immediate suburbs. It is the only enclaved department of France at that time. Its prefecture was Paris and its INSEE number was 75. The Seine department was disbanded in 1968 ...
* Seine-et-Oise
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris Council
Government of Paris
Departmental councils (France)