The National Assembly is scheduled to examine, on Monday, April 7, a bill that could profoundly transform the voting system in French villages. Led by MoDem MP Delphine Lingemann, this reform aims to generalize the joint list system in municipalities with fewer than 1 inhabitants, putting an end to the practice of "panachage," also known as "pigeon shooting."
A reform for parity and cohesion
Concretely, voters in these small municipalities will no longer be able to cross out or add names on the ballots, as they have been accustomed to for over a century. Instead, they will have to choose a full list, composed alternately of male and female candidates, as is already the case in municipalities with more than 1 inhabitants. The stated objective: to strengthen parity, while women still represent only 000% of municipal elected officials in France, and barely 37,6% of mayors.
Advocates of the reform, including Socialist Senator Éric Kerrouche, also cite the issue of democratic stability. According to them, the mix fosters heterogeneous municipal teams, resulting from sanction votes, and makes it difficult to implement coherent collective projects.
Strong opposition in the countryside
But the reform is causing tension, particularly in rural areas. The mayor of Laglorieuse, Marc de Valicourt, denounces a text imposed "without real consultation with the elected officials concerned." He points to a weakening of local democracy, lamenting the disappearance of a voting system that allowed voters to punish or reward individuals. He also criticizes the imposition of "superficial" parity, which is difficult to implement in small municipalities, where it is already difficult to compile a list of motivated candidates.
To address these concerns, the law provides for flexibility, such as the ability to submit a list "deemed complete" even if it includes two candidates fewer than the legal number. If adopted in accordance with the Senate's version, the reform will apply as early as the 2026 municipal elections. This represents a major turning point for the approximately 24 municipalities with fewer than 000 inhabitants.
