Municipal elections: new voting method in Paris, Lyon and Marseille approved

On Thursday, August 7, the Constitutional Council approved a new voting system for municipal elections in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. The councilors of central town halls will now be directly elected, in addition to representatives of districts and sectors.

The wise men noted that for these three municipalities, the most populated in France, the legislator was justified in wanting to "improve the representation of the various political sensitivities within (their) deliberative assemblies" , "in accordance with the objective of constitutional value of pluralism of currents of thought and opinions" .

The reform, led by Paris Renaissance MP Sylvain Maillard and supported by the government, was passed by the Assembly at the beginning of July despite hostility from the Senate.

It must be applied from the municipal elections of March 2026, leading to a double election system, and therefore two ballot boxes, one to elect the members of the central town hall council (Paris council, municipal councils of Lyon and Marseille) – which then elect the mayor –, the other to elect those of the district (in Paris) or the sector (in Lyon and Marseille).

In Lyon, the reform involves the organization of a triple ballot, since the residents of the municipalities of the Lyon Metropolis already vote directly for their metropolitan representatives, at the same time as for their municipal councilors.

In particular, the Constitutional Council, having been asked to consider this point, considered that "the new rules introduced are not particularly complex" .