In front of the posters of the municipal elections organized on March 15 in Marseille, on April 16, 2020. – Fabien Dupoux / SIPA
The second round municipal elections will it take place
in June or in the fall?
The scientific council will deliver, on Monday, “during the day” his report to the Prime Minister on the holding of the poll, announced
Jacqueline Gourault, Minister for Territorial Cohesion.
“The Prime Minister will have the day the result of the scientific council and see under what conditions can happen the second round of these municipal elections,” she said on Monday morning on Public Senate.
Mayors hope for second round in June
The report of the Scientific Council, on which the Prime Minister will rely to decide on the continuation of the electoral process for the cities where the first round on March 15 was not decisive, was expected before May 23. The decision will then be “shared” with Parliament, which will have to decide, said the minister. “All the political forces give their opinion, participate in the debate, so I think it is normal that the Parliament also participates in it,” she said.
Sunday in the JDD, 36 mayors of major cities, including Anne Hidalgo (Paris) or Christian Estrosi (Nice),
called for “organizing the second round of municipal elections in June”. Scheduled initially on March 22, the second round, which concerns about 5,000 municipalities, was postponed until the day after the first due to the health crisis.
Should we reorganize the first round?
“If the experts consider that the epidemic is in some way under control, that the protective framework of the organization of the polling stations allows an electoral mobilization and to finish the poll at the end of June, the association of the mayors of France is favorable to that “, said Monday on Europe 1 François Baroin, the mayor LR of Troyes and president of the Association of the mayors of France. But if the election were to take place later after the summer, François Baroin is not in favor of replaying the first round of the 5,000 communes concerned.
“As of March 15, we can (…) say that we were already in the development of the epidemic. So I don’t think there would be an alteration in sincerity “and that the first round should be replayed, he said.
The entry into office this Monday of more than 30,000 complete municipal councils, elected them in the first round, was welcomed by Jacqueline Gourault who judges it “very important in democratic terms”. “We must move on to the installation of the executives which will take place between May 23 and May 28, in the field, it was a very important expectation of the elected officials,” added the minister.
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