A regional council (french: conseil régional) is the elected assembly of a

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

Regional councils were created by law on 5 July 1972. Originally they were simply consultative bodies consisting of the region's parliamentary representatives plus an equal number of members nominated by the departments and

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

. The decentralisation programme of 1982–1983 under President François Mitterrand provided for direct election which began in 1986 and increased the powers of the councils.

Operation

The assemblies elect their presidents who preside over the meetings and head the regional executive.

Electoral system

Before 2004

Between 1986 and 2004, regional councils were elected by closed list

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 ...

. The Front National was frequently left with the balance of power as a result and this led to a change in the electoral law.

Since 2004

Since 2004 three quarters of the seats continue to be elected by proportional representation with each list having an equal number of male and female candidates. The other quarter are given to the list that received the most votes. In order to gain these top up seats, a list must have gained an absolute majority of the votes in the first round. If this has not been achieved a second round is held with each party that gained at least ten percent of the votes competing. The party that wins a plurality in this round gains the bonus seats. It is common in this round for lower ranking parties to withdraw in favour of parties they have entered into an alliance with. This can however potentially mean that a list that gained fewer votes in the first round and thus fewer proportional seats can end up the overall winner.

List of councils

Current councils

* Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes *

Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté The Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (french: Conseil régional de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) is the deliberative assembly of the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Marie-Guite Dufay of the Socialist Party (PS) is the current presid ...

Regional Council of Brittany The Regional Council of Brittany (, ) is the regional legislature of the region of Brittany in France. It is composed of 83 councillors, elected in 2015, in office for six years until 2021. Seats By Departments *17 councillors for Côtes-d' ...

* Regional Council of Centre-Val de Loire *

Corsican Assembly The Corsican Assembly ( co, Assemblea di Corsica; french: L'Assemblée de Corse) is the unicameral legislative body of the territorial collectivity of Corsica. It has its seat at the , in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. After the 2017 territ ...

Regional Council of Grand Est The Regional Council of Grand Est (french: conseil régional du Grand Est), formerly the regional council of Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine (french: conseil régional d'Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine), is the deliberative assembly of the reg ...

* Regional Council of Guadeloupe *

Regional Council of Hauts-de-France The Regional Council of Hauts-de-France (French language, French: ''Conseil régional des Hauts-de-France'') is the Regional council (France), deliberative assembly of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. It was named ...

Regional Council of Île-de-France The Regional Council of Île-de-France () is the regional council of Île-de-France, France's most populous administrative region. Made up of 209 regional councillors elected for 6 years, it is headquartered in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, just north of ...

* Regional Council of Normandy * Regional Council of Nouvelle-Aquitaine *

Regional Council of Occitania The Regional Council of Occitania (, ) is the deliberative assembly of the region of Occitania, the southernmost administrative region of metropolitan France excluding Corsica. Carole Delga of Socialist Party is the current president of the regi ...

Regional Council of Pays de la Loire The Regional Council of Pays de la Loire is the deliberative assembly of the Regions of France, French region of Pays de la Loire. The regional council is made up of 93 regional councilors elected for a period of six years by direct universal suffra ...

* Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur * Regional Council of Réunion

Former councils

The following councils were disbanded after the merger of regions which came in effect since 1 January 2016: * Regional Council of Alsace * Regional Council of Aquitaine * Regional Council of Auvergne * Regional Council of Burgundy *

Regional Council of Champagne-Ardenne The Regional Council of Champagne-Ardenne was the deliberative assembly of the former region of Champagne-Ardenne incorporated in the Grand Est region on 1 January 2016. It was headquartered in Châlons-en-Champagne, at 5 rue de Jéricho at Hôtel ...

* Regional Council of Franche-Comté * Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon * Regional Council of Limousin *

Regional Council of Lorraine 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 and t ...

* Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées *

Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais The Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais was the deliberative assembly of the former French region Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a decentralized territorial community acting on the regional territory. It sat between 2008 and its disappearance in 2014 at t ...

* Regional Council of Lower Normandy * Regional Council of Upper Normandy * Regional Council of Picardy * Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes * Regional Council of Rhône-Alpes

References

External links