In Lyon, the reform of the municipal ballot raises expectations on the substance, concerns about the form

2023-12-29 12:00:07
The environmentalist mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, in his office at city hall, June 28, 2021. JEFF PACHOUD / AFP

Nine municipal districts, six metropolitan districts, four legislative districts. The electoral division of the territory of Lyon requires solid arithmetic training. Hence the fairly widespread desire for a more readable system. The so-called “PLM” law (for Paris, Lyon, Marseille) of 1982 created nine districts in the capital of Gaul. The municipal election initially designates municipal councilors and a mayor in each district. Secondly, each district sends a portion of its councilors to sit on the central municipal council, in proportion to its population. Of the total 221 municipal councilors in the districts, 73 will thus find themselves on the central municipal council. And this proceeds to the election of the mayor of Lyon, at the end of a form of indirect election, through the intermediary of electors.

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The principle is discussed. Firstly because it can generate distortions between the total number of votes obtained and the final result in the central municipal council. The most populous districts mathematically send a greater number of councilors to city hall. A candidate can be elected by this mechanism, without necessarily having a majority of votes in all the districts.

This case occurred during the first election of Gérard Collomb, in 2001. The socialist candidate had ten thousand votes less than his divided right-wing opponents, but the most populated districts allowed him to be elected to the council central municipal. On the other hand, no dissonance in the election of Grégory Doucet, in 2020, with the victory of environmentalists in seven of the nine districts, and a majority in votes and in councilors at city hall.

“Denial of democracy”

“A mayor must embody a city. The system of the “PLM” law can generate inequality because of the districts which provide a lot of municipal councilors”, estimates David Kimelfeld, municipal councilor (Progressives and Republicans, ex-Renaissance) and former mayor of the 4th arrondissement, in favor of a direct election. Critics of the “PLM” law also denounce the lack of power of district town halls, which lack an investment section. “It’s a denial of democracy. We are reduced to the role of facilitator, without any specific skills to respond concretely to the expectations of our citizens”, testifies Pascal Blache, mayor (Les Républicains, LR) of the 6th arrondissement of Lyon. With a political color different from that of the city mayor, the situation of the district mayor is weakened.

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