Political tensions within the municipal councils are the main cause of resignations of the mayors, which reach a magnitude “never observed in the past”, with 2,189 resignations recorded since 2020, according to a study published this Thursday, June 19.
Among the main causes of resignation identified, 31%are due to political tensions within the municipal council, far ahead of anticipated power (13.7%), health problems (13.1%), the combination of mandates (8.5%), fatigue (5.1%), or even personal (3.9%) or professionals (3.4%).
The decision of the mayors to leave their function “follows the disputes, disputes, conflicts or other disagreements within the municipal council, sometimes with the elected officials of the opposition, sometimes, and this is the most frequent case, within the majority”, underlines the researcher in CEVIPOF and Professor in Science Po Martial Foucault in his investigation “, the restart of the elderly of the major Sciences”.
A series of resignations at a “historical” level
According to their study, more than half of the resigning (53%) are newly elected mayors. Tensions within the councils also regularly lead to “about the resignations of the municipal opposition advisors and/or the majority required by the organization of early elections after which the mayor puts himself in the minority and renounces or chooses to sit as a municipal councilor for opposition.”
Among the explanatory factors, Martial Foucault recalls the context in which the municipal elections of 2020 took place, in the midst of a covid crisis. “For long months, the teams could not be face to face (…) This necessarily interrupted a collective dynamic,” he analyzes.
The number of resignations reached a level considered “historical” with 2,189 voluntary decisions identified. “Between September 20 and March 2025, 40 resignations per month are recorded on average, more than one resignation per day,” said the study.
If the municipalities of less than 500 inhabitants, more numerous, are the most affected (42%), the municipalities of 1,000 to 3,500 inhabitants record a wave of “unprecedented” resignations, with a quarter of the renouncing mayors.
Resignations affect both men and women, but “more retired young people, intellectual professions and senior executives.”
Some departments are also more affected, such as Isère, Haute-Garon, Charente, Essonne, North or Tarn-Et-Egaronne, without a common factor may have been identified between these departments.
The survey was carried out from data from the National Board of Directors of the National Directory of elected officials of the Ministry of Interior, articles of the Regional Daily Press and interviews with the main interested actors.
Source: BFM TV
