Be unanimous against her. The bill on the reform of municipal elections in Paris, Lyon and Marseille arrives this Tuesday, June 3 in the Senate. Following closely by the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, who is a candidate to conquer the capital in the next municipal elections in 2026, it almost does not have the possibility of being adopted by the upper room.
“Nothing has been prepared with us when we represent the communities. I really find it difficult to understand that we discuss this when there are many other emergencies,” says Environmental Senator Thomas Dossus with BFMTV.
Absent LR ministers
Proof that time is ashamed in the government camp: neither Bruno Retilleau, Interior Minister and, as such, in charge of the organization of the elections will defend this text before the upper chamber that, however, knows very well for having presided over the LR group for years.
His delegated minister François-Noël Buffet, former president of the prestigious Law Commission in the Senate, will not be present either. As in April, it is the Minister of Relations with Parliament who will try to convince the senators.
Promoted by François Bayrou, brought to the National Assembly by the deputy of the Renaissance Sylvain Maillard, this bill aims to modify the way in which the mayors of Paris, Lyonnais and Marseille are elected.
“We could end with zero senator LR”
Problem: Senators chosen by local elected officials, any change in their mode of designation necessarily affects the future of elected officials in the upper room.
“No one will say everything about Go, but if this text happens, we could end with zero senator LR in Paris,” summarizes a parliamentarian who closely follows the file. A Casus Belli for the game that has almost a third of the troops in the Senate.
Since 1982, Paris, Lyon and Marseille have had a Special Voting System. Where in all other municipalities, voters vote throughout the territory, citizens pronounce the cast for the district or sector for the sector in these 3 large cities.
Specifically, part of the councilors thus elected will be located in the municipal council of the city and will choose the future mayor. But the distribution key can sometimes lead to the election of a councilor who is not Not necessarily the one who voted the largest number of inhabitants.
LFI, RN and Macronie agree with the assembly
This was, for example, the case in Marseille in 1983. Socialist mayor Gaston Defferre was re-elected when he obtained in the second round 10,000 votes less than Jean-Claude Gaudin (LR). What convinces the deputy of the Renaissance Sylvain Maillard, who defended this bill in the assembly, to “end this democratic anomaly.”
In very rare unanimity, rebel France and national concentration shared these arguments in the hemicycle. Result: Despite the torments, the reform of the voting system was largely adopted in the National Assembly with 183 votes against 53.
But in the Senate, the atmosphere should be quite different. The Law Commission greatly rejected this bill in the Committee on April 24, both on the side of the Socialists and the LR.
A custom -made voting mode for very well known figures
And it is a pity if the right that runs the upper room with the UDI has a bad way of Rachida Dati, however, from its own camp.
If the Minister of Culture defends this text, it is because some believe that this new electoral system would promote the most populated districts and that, therefore, it would be enough to win some key districts to guarantee an electoral majority in the Paris Council.
“With popularity, it is easier to obtain large districts and, therefore, win. The same calculation is made for Jean-Michel Classrooms in Paris (potential candidate in Lyon for the note of the Renaissance editor),” analyzes Senator LR of the Rhône Etienne Blanc.
But in the upper room, Rachida Dati’s support is rare, with the exception of Senator Catherine Dumas. Especially because the leader of the right in this text is Francis Szpiner, Notorious opponent of the Minister of Culture who formalized his candidacy to represent the right to the next municipal elections. Macronist senators, who are barely 19 years old, should probably refrain.
“No one will burn the shirt for Rachida Dati”
As for Bruno Retilleau, very listened to in the Senate, he has already explained that he was “very circumstance” in the modification of the ballot for Lyon, Paris and Marseille, especially pointing the schedule for the modification of the ballot, only 9 months before the municipal elections.
“No one will burn his shirt for Rachida Dati, here, it is true, neither in law nor among the macronists,” analyzes a senator who closely follows the file.
On the side of the Minister of Culture, we ensure that this bill “is not for her but for the Lyonnais, the Parisians and the Marsseillais”.
Optimism in government
In the entourage of the Minister of Relations with Parliament Patrick Mignola, we played another letter, that of coherence, remembering that the senators had fought fiercely against the modification of the voting system in 1983.
“It would still be baroque that the senators who insult this text at that time were now against their modification,” said one of his relatives who always explains possible “to find an airstrip” for the text.
In case of rejection by the senators of this bill, the most likely hypothesis on the table, François Bayrou would have several options, beginning with the performance of the dissent and burying this bill.
Towards a confrontation?
Another possibility: convene a joint joint commission before returning the text before the Assembly for a final reading. The bill would be adopted and the voting method changed for the day D of the elections.
Will François Bayrou really go to the confrontation, despite the fact that his relations with the Senate are very cordial, an opportunity for him facing a very fragmented national assembly?
“You will forgive me for my naivety, but I heard the prime minister say that I would not persist in the absence of consensus, and I imagine that I deny his word,” he had already launched as a warning during the work of the Law Commission, Senator LR Francis Szpiner.
Source: BFM TV
