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In the first round, voters typically "vote
their concsience," selecting their preferred list of candidates
to represent their arrondisement on the Municipal Council, from
among all parties, including the smaller parties which have no real
chance of winning a majority of electors.
If a list gets an absolute majority (more
than 50% of votes cast for that office) in the first round, they
get 50% of the seats. The remaining seats are divided proportionally
between all the lists (including the majority winner's) that received
at least 5% of the votes. If, as is often the case, this doesn't
happen, the vote goes to the second round.
Only those lists that reached 10% of the
vote in the first round may participate in the second round. Those
parties that do not make the cut off sometimes throw in their lot
with a larger party in exchange for a share of the power if they
are successful. With the field narrowed, the candidate who has the
simple majority wins (to win, a candidate needs only one vote more
than any other candidate). Whoever gets the most votes receives
50% of the seats, and then the others are divided by percentage
in the same way as in the first round.
After the elections are over, the municipal
council meets and formally elects the mayor from within its ranks.
Concretely, to win the mayor's office, a party must first have an
absolute majority (alone or through coalition) among the 163 conseillers
de Paris who are elected arrondisement by arrondisiement.
Currently the Right has 100 conseillers
while the left has only 63. The left must have 82 conseillers if
it wants to gain the Mayor's office. That means it must keep the
6 arrondisements it has controlled as of 1995 (the 3rd, 10th, 11th,
18th, 19th and 20th) and win at least two others. Likely takeover
targets include the 12th 13th and 14th, which bring a total of 23
seats in the council.
Understanding the
Issue:
The Race to Control Paris
The Candidates
The People and the
Issues
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