Municipal. In small towns, candidates will no longer be given political color

Starting in the elections of March 2020, mayoral candidates of small municipalities, who claim to be untagged, will no longer be classified in political currents.

The attribution of a political color by the prefectural administration for the candidates of the small communes will end during the municipal elections of March 2020, indicated Wednesday 9 October the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner.

"We know that for smaller municipalities, this system is not necessarily adapted. [...] We could perfectly well envisage setting a threshold at 3,500 to 9,000 inhabitants, below which political belonging to the main political currents we know is not essential, " he said during the questions. to the government in the Senate.

A function dating from the Third Republic

Today, "there is the ability for the prefect to look for a number of elements that can give a political attribution" candidates even if they do not wish to, said Christophe Castaner. For example "various left" or "various right" or "center" for a candidate who nevertheless would like to declare himself "without label" .

"This is an old function that goes back to the Third Republic," said the Interior Minister who was questioned by Senator Dany Wattebled (The Independents).

In 2013, the lowering of the list threshold to municipalities with a population of 1,000 or more, de facto increased the number of candidates concerned by this provision.

But against the backdrop of a crisis of vocations, local elected officials and associations were alarmed at the continuation of this allocation, which had remained in the hands of the prefectural administration.

Errors and inconsistencies

"The attribution of a political color considered indispensable to the political readability of the results and to the composition of the local assemblies, proves more and more difficult for the small communes with lists which claim to be apolitical or citizens" , explains Beauvau Place.

"It gives improbable things and sometimes there were mistakes. It was therefore decided to stop the "shading" for small towns, " said the same source.

The threshold below which this "shading" by the State will no longer be mandatory is being arbitrated by the Ministry of the Interior.

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