Latest news with #Paris-Lyon-Marseille
LeMonde
4 days ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Direct mayoral elections in Paris, Lyon, Marseille get green light from France's top court
As opponents of the "PLM" law – short for "Paris-Lyon-Marseille" – had anticipated, on Thursday, August 7, the Constitutional Council approved all provisions of the bill to reform the election process for members of the Council of Paris, as well as for municipal councilors in Lyon and Marseille. This marks a revolution in the way the three largest French cities hold elections, bringing them in line with the rules that apply to the approximately 34,000 other municipalities across France, less than a year before municipal elections. Until now, voters in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille chose their arrondissement (district) councilors, with the top-ranking councilors then forming a municipal council that selects the mayor. This meant that the mayor was elected through an indirect form of universal suffrage. But under a new law introduced by Paris MP Sylvain Maillard of the centrist Renaissance party, starting in March 2026, residents of these cities will vote twice on the same day. One vote will directly elect the mayor, who will be at the top of a list of municipal councilors. The other vote will elect arrondissement councilors. In Lyon, voters will also cast a third ballot to choose councilors for the métropole (Greater Lyon Area).
LeMonde
30-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati's dangerous game
Rachida Dati wants to become the next mayor of Paris. It is her obsession. The more obstacles she faces, the more France's culture minister embraces transgression. On Monday, July 28, she announced she would run for the Assemblée Nationale's open seat in Paris's 2 nd constituency, without waiting for the decision of the conservative Les Républicains (LR) party, which chose to nominate Michel Barnier. It was an unelegant snub of the former prime minister under whom she served last year, reigniting the French right's old poison of division. It is hard to say whether she is still a member of LR or has now joined President Emmanuel Macron's camp. The former protégée of Nicolas Sarkozy now works for herself, and herself alone. Among the many adversaries she likes to make, Dati also counts judges. On Tuesday, July 22, she was ordered to stand criminal trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling, over suspicions that she engaged in illegal lobbying in the European Parliament on behalf of Carlos Ghosn, the former head of Renault-Nissan, in exchange for €900,000 in fees. Dati counterattacked in pure Sarkozy style. Criticizing what she called a "procedure marred by incidents," she tried to put the prosecutor for financial crimes, Jean-François Bohnert, in an awkward position with the office over which he has authority. Prime Minister François Bayrou had to remind her of what she should not have pretended to ignore: Respect for the judicial institution is "a state duty." Protected by the president and supported by the current justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, Dati has no fans on the left. But she is also divisive within the right, the government, the president's party and other groups in the governing bloc. To some, she is an electoral asset not to be overlooked; to others, a dangerous firebrand ready to exploit every populist sentiment of the time: distrust of judges, the media, the elites, the "system." If passed, the "Paris-Lyon-Marseille" law modifying the methods of electing mayors in the three cities, currently under review in Parliament, would allow her to limit the influence of local power brokers who have opposed her rise in Paris ever since she established herself as mayor of the 7 th arrondissement. The free rein she has managed to carve out for herself by being both popular and disruptive is undeniable, but there are limits that must not be crossed. There is a whiff of Trumpism in the way Dati fights her political battles: there is only one truth, her own; threats against those who dare to question her, such as against the journalist Patrick Cohen on June 18 on the television show C à vous; heavy artillery against the judiciary. A year ahead of the 2027 presidential campaign, next March's municipal elections will provide an important indication of the tone of the political debate, especially as much of the right and far right now also target the judiciary and the rule of law. Banned from running for office for five years following her conviction of embezzlement, far-right leader Marine Le Pen has just stated that, in the event of new snap legislative elections, she would still stand as a candidate, intending to rely on her electoral base to put maximum pressure on the electoral judge and the Constitutional Council. In the past, such a statement would have sparked an outcry, but that is no longer the case today.
