Paris-Lyon-Marseille ballot reform: joint committee postponed
The joint committee, which was supposed to reconcile the views of the Senate and the Assembly on the reform of municipal elections in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille, initially scheduled for June 17, has been postponed to June 24, according to sources confirming AFP.
Bringing together seven MPs and seven senators behind closed doors, the Joint Committee will have to try to find common ground between the lower house, which approved the bill by Paris MP Sylvain Maillard (Renaissance), and the upper house, which overwhelmingly rejected it.
Also read : What the reform of the voting system would change in Lyon
The text is divisive even within the government, where Prime Minister François Bayrou supports the text and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau opposes it. On Friday, Senate President Gérard Larcher wrote to Mr. Bayrou asking him to postpone the joint committee meeting to "respond to the need for consultation that (the Prime Minister himself) called for ."
In his letter, seen by AFP, Mr. Larcher recalls that during the question time session with the government on February 19, Mr. Bayrou had stated that he could not imagine " that a text could be adopted on this subject without an agreement being reached between the National Assembly and the Senate ."
The reform, which aims to bring voters closer to choosing their mayor in Paris, Lyon and Marseille, would put an end to the voting system introduced in 1982 in the PLM law, under which voters in these three cities vote in each district for a list of councillors, with the elected officials at the top of the list sitting on the district council and the municipal council.
Also read : Electoral reform in Paris, Lyon and Marseille: first step taken in the Assembly
Lyon Capitale
