2026 Municipal Elections: Senate to Disavow Electoral Reform in Paris, Lyon and Marseille

The right is hostile to it, as is the vast majority of the left, and even the central bloc is struggling to find its way: Macron's proposed law to reform the voting system in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille risks being overwhelmingly rejected during the debates, which will begin Tuesday afternoon in the Senate. This is a major setback for the government, which supports this bill, less than a year before the elections.

Adopted by the National Assembly in early April with the support of the executive, the reform would put an end to the voting system introduced in 1982. Under this system, voters in the three largest French cities vote in each district (or sector) for a list of councillors, with the elected representatives at the top of the list sitting on the district (or sector) council as well as the municipal council.

The proposed law instead provides for two ballots, one to elect district (or sector) councilors, the other to elect those for the municipal council, in a single constituency. The text also proposes lowering the majority bonus for the leading list to 25%, instead of 50%, as is currently the case throughout France. These changes are justified by a formula hammered home by supporters of the reform: "One Parisian equals one vote, one Lyonnais equals one vote, one Marseillais equals one vote."

But behind this justification also lie important political stakes, with each party having taken out the calculator to try to anticipate the impact of the reform on its score in the March 2026 municipal elections. In the Senate, it is clear that the calculations have not been satisfactory. The text had prospered in the Assembly thanks to an atypical majority composed of the central bloc, the Insoumis (Rebellious Party), and the National Rally... But LFI has no elected representatives in the Senate, the RN only a handful , and the Macronist group around twenty.

In the Upper House, on the contrary, the balance seems to be tilting very heavily in favor of rejection, especially since Senate President Gérard Larcher (LR) himself did not hold back from expressing his disapproval of the approach. "Is it wise to change a voting system in this way less than a year before the municipal elections?" asked Mathieu Darnaud, leader of the LR senators, the largest political force in the Luxembourg Palace.

While Republican MPs supported the initiative, many saw it as a strategy in the party's presidential campaign, with Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the group in the National Assembly, in favor of this reform sought by Rachida Dati , and Bruno Retailleau strongly opposed. Unsurprisingly, LR senators overwhelmingly followed the position of the Minister of the Interior, former leader of the group in the Upper House.

The Socialists, the second largest group in the Senate, share the same vision, with the exception of their Marseille representatives. "It's a poorly written text, which mixes together three completely different legal situations," laments their leader, Patrick Kanner.

The Senate's likely rejection would place the government in a delicate situation regarding this text. Will it convene a joint committee (CMP), a meeting of seven senators and seven deputies tasked with negotiating to arrive at a common text? "The logical thing would be to see in the CMP whether a compromise is possible," suggests a government source, refusing nevertheless to "put itself in the position of an unfavorable outcome" of the debates in the Senate Chamber.

If no agreement emerges, the executive can also decide to give the final word to the National Assembly... But it will have to be acknowledged by its allies. Indeed, Prime Minister François Bayrou assured in February that he "could not imagine that a text could be adopted on this subject without the agreement of the National Assembly and the Senate." "If the government wants to go through with its reform, it will weaken itself ," emphasizes Lauriane Josende, LR rapporteur of the proposed law. "I'm not sure that the game is worth the candle."