The politics of
Mayotte
Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...
takes place in a framework of a
French overseas region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
and
department, until 2011 an
overseas collectivity
The French overseas collectivities (''collectivité d'outre-mer'' or ''COM'') are first-order administrative divisions of France, like the French regions, but have a semi-autonomous status. The COMs include some former French overseas colonies ...
. Local politics takes place in a
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
representative democratic setting whereby the President of the General Council is the
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
, of a
multi-party system
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...
.
Executive power
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state.
In political systems b ...
is exercised by the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
.
The status of Mayotte changed in 2001 towards one very close to the status of the ''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...
s'' of mainland France, with the particular designation of ''
collectivité départementale'', although the island is still claimed by the
Comoros. This change was approved by 73% in a referendum on Mayotte. After the constitutional reform of 2003 it became a ''
collectivité d'outre-mer'' while keeping the title ''collectivité départementale de Mayotte''. Mayotte became an
overseas department of France (''département d'outre-mer'', DOM) on 31 March 2011 following the result of the March
2009 Mahoran status referendum, which was overwhelmingly approved by around 95% of voters.
Executive branch
The head of state is the
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
as represented by prefect
Thierry Suquet. The head of government is President of the General Council
Soibahadine Ibrahim Ramadani.
Legislative branch
The
General Council (Conseil Général) has 19 members, elected for a three-year term in single seat constituencies.
The island is
represented by one deputy in
the
National Assembly of France.
Political parties and elections
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