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 10 February 2013. The result was a victory for the Horizon Monaco alliance, which won 20 of the 24 seats in the National Council.

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 percent of votes.

Parties

The election was contested by two alliances, Horizon Monaco and Union Monégasque, as well as

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, a party whose candidates were all employees of SBM. Horizon Monaco was an alliance of Rassemblement et Enjeux, the

Union for the Principality The Union for the Principality (french: Union pour la Principauté, or UP) was a centrist political party in Monaco. It was part of the center-right coalition Horizon Monaco, which won 50.34% of the popular vote, and 20 out of 24 seats in the Na ...

and Synergie Monegasque, whilst Union Monégasque consisted of the Union de Monégasques and the

National Union for the Future of Monaco The National Union for the Future of Monaco (''Union nationale pour l'Avenir de Monaco'') was a centrist political party in Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat ...

. A total of 72 candidates contested the election.

Campaign

An unnamed official of the administration team said: "We have had three lists before, as in 2008, but they were never full. We must therefore revise certain aspects, such as the voting cards, where the 72 names must be listed." Renaissance said that it seeks achievable goals instead of new policies. The party said that is sought representation in parliament "to defend the interests of the SBM workers in Monaco." Horizon Monaco's leader Laurent Nouvion told '' Monaco Matin'': "I am very calm. I am more determined than ever to secure the future of Monaco and its compatriots. I believe that our campaign has been clean and honest. We tried as hard as possible to connect to the Monegasque people and to respond to their concerns. This is the heart of our commitment. For me and my fellow candidates, this campaign has brought us even closer together and given us the sense of being a real team, just like a sports team....Adversity has strengethened our relationship." Union Monégasque's leader Jean-François Robillon said: "We have worked hard at this long campaign. We are here to make plans for the future, not to abuse our adversaries, frighten the population and create an atmosphere of hatred... This has been our goal throughout the campaign: we have sought to promote our programme while avoiding aggressive confrontation."

Conduct

The

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...

was invited by Monaco's ambassador to OSCE and sent a team of four observers from four countries led by Poland's Konrad Olszewski. They arrived on 30 January and will depart on 13 February. Buses and car parks were free of charge in order to encourage voter turnout.

Results

An 18-metre screen broadcast the result at the only voting centre at Salle du Canto from 08:00 to 19:00, with the result expected between 4:00–4:30 the following day.

By party

References

{{Monegasque elections

Elections in Monaco 2013 in Monaco February 2013 events in Europe