The situation is already complicated, it has become ubiquitous for the thousands of elected officials who questioned Tuesday on the date of filing of their lists for the second round of municipal elections. In theory, the candidates had until 6 p.m. Tuesday to submit their list to the prefecture after incorporating the name changes in the event of an alliance with other political forces. An often sensitive 48 hour marathon. The second round having been postponed to June and given the current health and political conditions, everyone expected a deadline for filing.
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In his intervention Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, indeed granted it. But he was content to say that " candidates will not have to file their declaration of candidacies " and that " the deadline will be postponed by the bill ". Nothing more.
Worried about this vagueness, a candidate from Val-d'Oise rang at all the doors Tuesday to obtain information, in vain. "This morning, around 9 am and dust ," he testified, " I called the prefecture of my department. They did not want to answer me, having received no official instructions themselves on the possible new date. A contact at the Argenteuil sub-prefecture told me that, according to their secretary general, they had to drop it off before 6 p.m. They even posted a derogatory certificate of displacement online before telling us that, anyway, all the officials were sent home! What stress… ”
The state is on the bone in the territories and this crisis shows it
An elected LR"It is true that it is vague," laments an elected LR for his part. " The government just said it wasn't Tuesday night and I don't think it was this week," said another. "The State is on the bone in the territories and this crisis shows it" , gets annoyed one last. In reality, several options are still on the table, as there are many differences between the government and the Senate.
If the scientific council - which is to be held in mid-May to assess the health situation - validates the possibility of organizing the second round in June, the government calls for the lists to be tabled on the Tuesday before the election. This is in any case what is entered in Title 1 of the draft law on emergency and economic measures, relating to the postponement of the second round of municipal elections. This bill must be debated in the Senate on Thursday and in the National Assembly on Friday.
"You can't vitiate the spirit of the law"
The Senate, for its part, proposes not to wait until June to proceed with the deposit of the lists, but to allow a delay of a few days, probably next week. “We cannot, on the occasion of a postponement, vitiate the spirit of the law. This operation of depositing the lists is attached to the first round, not to the second, " explains Bruno Retailleau, who intends to refuse the postponement of the filing to June desired by the government. "On Monday, during the meeting of party and parliamentary group leaders organized by videoconference with Édouard Philippe, we already told the Prime Minister that we could give a deadline, but limited," said the chairman of the LR group in the Senate.
Read also: Municipal: Philippe consults the opposition and the experts before deciding to postpone the second round
The candidates for the municipal elections should be quickly fixed, but this showdown disturbs many elected officials who have other things to think about at the moment. In the meantime, for mayors elected in the first round, ie 30,000 municipalities, the installation meeting of the municipal council can take place from March 20 to 22 with some precautions. "With due regard for barrier gestures, it is recommended that this meeting be as brief as possible and be limited to essential subjects" , indicates the Association of Mayors of France. Among these subjects, the determination of the number of deputies, the election of the mayor and his deputies, as well as the reading of the charter of the local elected representative.
