No surprise, the majority of the general councilors of the Alpes-Maritimes called to vote have given an unfavorable opinion on the Cantonal reform. In 2015, people will have to vote for a pair instead of a single candidate, and the number of cantons will be halved.
Opponents of the redistricting denounce the left’s electoral ambitions and the loss of representativity of rural areas.
The general councilor and new ally of Patrick Allemand for the upcoming municipal elections in Nice, discusses the electoral redistricting of the next cantonal elections, which is causing much debate.
Nice-Premium: Was the discussion tough at the General Council for the consultative vote on the new cantonal map?
Patrick Mottard: Indeed, the General Council had to give its opinion on the electoral redistricting project concerning the new cantons defined by the departmental election framework law.
According to the general opinion, this law is a great democratic progress as it significantly reduces the population disparities between highly populated urban cantons and sometimes sparsely populated rural cantons that existed until now. (I always like to remind that under the old system, I had to convince ten times more voters in Nice in 1998, 2004, and 2011 than President Ciotti in his canton of Saint-Martin Vรฉsubie).
Nice-Premium: It seemed that an anti-feminist front had spontaneously formed. What is your view?
Patrick Mottard: By allowing the election of a tandem of a man and a woman, the new law enables achieving parity in assemblies where, until now, only an average of 13% women were present!
Nice Premium: The opinion expressed by the majority is still negative…
Patrick Mottard: By the UMP majority indeed, and, much more surprisingly, the communist elected officials (three men) voted against this progressive text in the name of a mythical rurality and by virtue of a stark conservatism.
