The Senate derives the reform of the ballot – Liberation

Failed for the government. The reform of the election mode in Paris, Lyon and Marseille was rejected this Tuesday, June 3 in public session in the Senate. Solicited at first reading on a bill already adopted in the National Assembly, right -wing senators, left and a few central blockswept the flagship article of this text, with only 97 votes to, against 217 oppositions. Its probable massive rejection is a major setback for its supports including the government, less than a year from the elections.

The rejection of the Senate places the government in a delicate situation on this text. Will he summon a joint joint commission (CMP), meeting of seven senators and seven deputies responsible for negotiating to lead to a common text? « The logic would be to see in CMP if a compromise is possible »advances a government source, before the vote.

If no agreement emerges, the executive can also decide to give the last word to the National Assembly … but it will be necessary to assume it with its allies. Indeed, Prime Minister François Bayrou had assured in February that he « Do not imagine (has) that a text can be adopted on this subject without the agreement of the National Assembly and the Senate ». « If the government wants to go to the end on its reform, it will weakeninsists Lauriane Josende, designated rapporteur by LR. I’m not sure that the game is worth the candle « .

Adopted in the National Assembly in early April with the support of the executivethe reform had to put an end to the voting system existing since 1982, under which voters in Paris, Lyon and Marseille vote in each arrondissement for a list of advisers, elected officials from the top of the list sitting on the district council and the municipal council.

It provided instead of establishing two ballots, one to elect the borough or sector councilors, the other to elect those of the municipal council, on a single district. The text also proposed to lower the majority premium to 25 % for the list arrived in the lead, instead of 50 %, as is today the case everywhere in France.

These major developments had to be justified by a very simple formula, argument of the support of the text: « A Parisian equals a voice, a Lyonnais equals a voice, a Marseillais equals a voice. » But behind this justification also hide important political stakes, each party having released the calculator to try to anticipate the impact of the reform on its score at the municipal elections of March 2026.

In the Senate, the majority of the right, it is clear that the calculations did not give satisfaction. The text had prospered in the assembly thanks to an atypical majority composed of the central block, the rebellious and the national rally … but LFI has no elected official in the Senate, the RN only a handful and the macronist group around twenty.

In the upper House, even before the ballot, the balance leaned very largely for a rejection, especially since the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher (the Republicans) himself had not deprived himself to say all the evil he thought of the approach. « Is it wise to change a voting system less than a year before the municipal elections? », also questioned Mathieu Darnaud, head of the LR senators, the first force of the High Assembly.

If the LR deputies had supported the initiative, many have seen a strategy as part of the campaign for the president of the party, between a Laurent Wauquiez favorable to this reform wanted by Rachida Dati, expected to apply for Paris, and A bruno retailleau strongly opposed. Unsurprisingly, the LR senators will massively follow the position of the Minister of the Interior, former leader of the group in the Senate.

The socialists, the second group in the Senate, have the same vision, with the exception of their Marseille elected officials. « It is a badly written text, which mixes three completely different situations on the legal level »regretted their leader Patrick Kanner.

Update : at 5:22 p.m., with the rejection of the text by the Senate.