While the candidates elected during the first round of the municipal elections on March 15 are preparing to formalize their mayoral mandate in the coming days, and a bill has been submitted to the National Assembly to reset the process in other municipalities with a planned two rounds on September 27 and October 4, about 36 local elected officials and mayors in France are calling for an end to the “democratic lockdown” and for the organization of the second round of municipal elections as early as June.
“How can we ask the French, who despite their concerns came out to vote on March 15, to redo a first round for the affected municipalities?” they ask.
The Government is waiting for the scientific committee’s opinion to make a decision on this delicate subject by the end of the month.
Here is their manifesto published in yesterday’s JDD:
“France is currently facing an immense health, economic, and social crisis of exceptional severity. The electoral uncertainty depriving municipalities of their mayor further exacerbates this situation by hindering their action, which is essential for rebooting our country.
Although we have recently learned the installation date of mayors elected in the first round, we still do not know when the second round of municipal elections will take place. Since the beginning of the crisis, mayors have stepped up as pillars of our Republic by supporting their constituents daily and ensuring solidarity and continuity of public services. But today, as our country has just begun the crucial stage of easing lockdown measures, millions of French people are waiting to have a mayor, a municipal team, and a community team in place, capable of making critical decisions for our schools, our transport, our jobs…
Democracy cannot remain locked down any longer, since these support policies for returning to normal life stem from the deliberations voted by our local assemblies. Moreover, in the event of a second epidemic wave in the fall, as some experts predict, our public institutions would be much more effective if they were definitively installed and stabilized.
The government wished to install the municipal teams elected in the first round before the end of May, and we welcome this. But it also plans to annul the March 15 vote for the remaining 4,816 municipalities and to redo two rounds in the fall. This unprecedented process is a profound breach of equality because the first round is an integral part. If this was the chosen solution, there would be two kinds of citizens: those who elected a mayor on March 15 and those who showed up in vain.
To recall, more than 25.5 million people live in a municipality concerned by the second round. It is therefore imperative to close this electoral sequence as soon as possible, before the summer period. We cannot ask mayors to reopen schools for education and close them for elections. The economic recovery of our country can only happen if large cities and intercommunalities have the ability to launch essential public investments.
70% of public procurement is carried out by the municipalities and intercommunalities. They are the essential driving force of our economy and our jobs. However, without quickly holding the second round of municipal elections, it will not be possible to install the executives of the municipalities and intercommunalities before the end of summer, and consequently, the measures that condition the restoration of sustainable growth cannot be voted on. 88% of intercommunalities are awaiting the second round to definitively install their deliberative assembly, effectively blocking their investment capacity.
How would the French accept new expenses incurred by new elections?
How can we ask the French, who despite their concerns came out to vote on March 15, to redo a first round for the affected municipalities? How justify it to the thousands of volunteers and staff who participated in organizing the ballot? How would the French accept new expenses incurred by new elections, when this financing would be much more useful to supplement the bonus dedicated to healthcare workers? Not to mention the loss of time and energy required by a new electoral campaign, whereas the situation of our country demands total mobilization. Let us not transform the health lockdown into a democratic lockdown that would be harmful to the future of France, and let us organize the second round of municipal elections as early as June.”
