Municipal 2020: second round, manual

Who votes in the second round? Is wearing a mask compulsory? What about the election of inter-municipal councilors, home powers of attorney? A little lost in these elections? France 24 takes stock.

More than three months after the first round of municipal elections held on March 15, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, new health measures have been adopted to encourage citizens to go to the polls. Precautions far from useless when we know that 52.25% of voters abstained in the first round, a record for municipal elections under the Fifth Republic.

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Masks and pens

To reassure voters, the Interior Ministry therefore made it mandatory to wear a mask. Handcrafted or surgical, all types of masks are welcome at polling stations. In the event of forgetfulness, the tellers may provide them to the voters. Members of the polling station may, however, ask voters to temporarily remove their masks to verify their identity. And it will not be possible to attend the counting without a surgical mask.

In order to ensure respect for social distanciations, the number of voters will be limited within each polling station and defined in relation to the surface of the room. Vulnerable people will have priority over others. Each polling station will be equipped with hydroalcoholic gel or access to a water point with soap. In addition to the mask, it is advisable to bring your own pen provided that the ink is black or blue and indelible. Finally, it will not be compulsory to stamp the electoral card after signing the signature list to avoid physical contact.

>> Read also: "Municipal 2020: who are the ministers still in the running?"

Something new also for proxies. The agents were able to vouch for two proxies established in France, instead of one in normal times. And people who, because of the coronavirus, could not move could ask their police station or gendarmerie to come and do it at home. In addition, the powers of attorney that were established during the first round are still valid for the second.

Majority or proportional ballot?

Covid-19 or not, the electoral rules remain unchanged. They are nonetheless complex. First, not all voters will go to the polls this Sunday: very many municipal councils have already been elected in the first round. This is the case in many municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants, but not only. Some city councilors have had the luxury of being elected in the first round, such as in Reims, Toulon, Angers, Caen or Boulogne-Billancourt. The second round therefore only concerns 4,820 municipalities out of a total of around 35,000. This still represents 16.5 million voters, or around 39% of the French electoral body.

Nor will all the voters go to elect a mayor, but sometimes only one or two vacant seats, the rest of the seats having been filled in the first round. This is the case of municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants who observe the majority voting rule. In this voting system, voters can vote for candidates who run individually or by list and have the possibility of striking out names, this is a combination.

As a reminder, in cities with more than 1,000 inhabitants, the proportional voting rule prevails. The lists presented must include as many names as seats to be filled and as many women as men. The election is acquired in the first round if a list collects the majority of the votes cast, ie 50% of the votes plus one. If this is not the case, only the lists having obtained at least 10% of the votes can remain in the second round. This is the situation that prevails in 1,345 cities this Sunday. Some cities will attend not a duel but a triangular, a quadrangular or even a quangangular. There are thus no less than 157 quadrangulars for this election and 12 quangangulars, with unpredictable results, as in Digne-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), Mouy (Oise), Saint-Xandre (Charente-Maritime) or again Milly-la-Forêt and Linas (Essonne).

Inter-municipal voting

There remains the question of intercommunalities. During municipal elections, people also vote - sometimes without knowing it - to elect the inter-municipal councilors who manage the communities of municipalities, agglomerations, metropolises and other inter-municipal authorities. Again, the voting system is established according to the number of inhabitants. For municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants, elected municipal officials are automatically appointed at the municipal council in the following order of importance: the mayor, the first deputy, second deputy, etc.

In the 5,000 or so municipalities concerned by the second round of #electionsMunicipales2020 on Sunday, you will elect your municipal and also inter-municipal councilors. In municipalities with more than 1000 inhabitants, the ballot will include two lists. pic.twitter.com/Z0v0p5NokL

For cities with more than 1,000 inhabitants, however, the municipal team is indicated on the front of the ballot and the team of the intermunicipal council is mentioned on the back. We therefore vote twice with the same ballot. The number of councilors of a municipality authorized to participate in the destinies of the community of municipalities is proportional to the number of inhabitants. For the first time, Paris and all of the 130 communes of the inner suburbs forming the Greater Paris Metropolis will opt for this operation.

At the end of the second round, the councils of all the municipalities will have to be renewed between Friday 3 and Sunday 5 July. As for the councils of all the communes and groupings of communes, they must be installed on July 18 at the latest ,  except in Guyana, where the second round was postponed due to the spread of the Covid-19.

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