A delegation of senators, including Dominique Estrosi Sassone, was heard this Wednesday by the Constitutional Council. They are defending an appeal against the reform imposing gender parity in the municipal elections of communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.
The Constitutional Council heard, this Wednesday, the initial signatories of an appeal against a recent electoral reform. This reform aims to generalize the principle of gender parity to the municipal councils of all communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants. The appeal was filed by a quarter of the senators, and includes elected officials from various political groups.
Dominique Estrosi Sassone, a senator from Alpes-Maritimes, was among the four parliamentarians present at the hearing. She was accompanied by Jean-Franรงois Longeot, senator of Doubs, Cรฉcile Cukierman, senator of Loire, Cรฉdric Chevalier, senator of Marne, as well as their counsel, Maรฎtre Didier Girard.
This hearing was held under Article 10 of the Constitutional Council’s procedural rules. This provision allows for the hearing of petitioners when justified by the case. The jurisdiction decided to do so, considering the importance of the arguments presented. The senators contest both the substance and the concrete effects of the reform. According to them, it calls into question the balance of local democracy. “These texts challenge local democracy and the free administration of communes in unprecedented proportions,” they declared.
They also highlight the practical consequences of a uniform application of the principle of parity. In the smallest communes, electoral lists often have few candidates. Some, they argue, may not be able to form lists compliant with the new rules.
The elected officials fear irreversible consequences
The elected officials heard emphasize the concrete effects of such a measure for rural areas. For communes with fewer than 500 inhabitants (many of which are in Alpes-Maritimes), the situation is considered particularly critical. They warn of the risk of the outright disappearance of certain municipalities.
The senators fear that these rules could make it impossible to form electoral lists, particularly in areas already facing a lack of volunteers. “In practice, it is likely that many communes will lack male… elected officials,” they state, perhaps with a hint of irony… The method chosen to introduce this reform is also questioned, as is its timeline, less than a year before the next municipal elections, is considered problematic. “One notes the incongruity of a reform of this importance just 11 months before the electoral deadlines.”
Beyond the electoral question, the senators also question the purpose of the approach. They believe that this reform could conceal a larger project of reducing the number of communes. “If the state wants to abolish ‘small communes’, a debate to this effect should be held in Parliament, as it is a major societal choice; it cannot be implemented through a reform presented as technical and with another purpose.”
The Constitutional Council is expected to make its decision in the coming days. The senators, meanwhile, remain mobilized. They intend to defend a vision of grassroots democracy, adapted to the diversity of territories.
