Voters will be called to the polls across France on March 15 to choose their new municipal council (conseil municipal) and, indirectly, their mayors.
A second round of voting will be held in some areas on March 22, but only one round is needed if a list of candidates receives an absolute majority of votes (50% plus one), which is often the case in rural areas.
Non-EU nationals without French citizenship, including Britons since Brexit, are barred from voting in municipal elections or standing as candidates. An exception is made for those who are also citizens of another EU country and who live in France, but they cannot become mayor or deputy mayor (adjoint).
Would-be candidates must also be at least 18 years old, have fulfilled their military obligations, and be registered to vote in the municipality or registered there for local taxes.
There are restrictions on certain professions – for example, judges – standing in municipalities within their jurisdiction. And municipal employees cannot be elected in the municipality they work for.
Representation
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The council is elected on a ‘list system’, with each list featuring candidates with a common programme.
This year it is compulsory for each one to have equal male and female representation, with men and women alternated on the list.
Each list must include a number of candidates equal to the number of seats to be filled: seven for municipalities with fewer than 100 inhabitants, and up to 69 for those with 300,000 inhabitants or more.
Candidates, especially in small communes, are often elected on an independent or non-partisan basis.
Generally, if a town has a population of around 5,000 or more, it will have party-political lists, but there is no hard and fast rule.
Voter concerns
A recent poll showed that security is the most important factor for French citizens ahead of the 2026 municipal elections – the issue was cited as a major factor for 58% of people, followed by local surroundings and environment, local taxes, and the cleanliness of the commune.
The mayor is formally elected by the new municipal councillors during the first council meeting, held between Friday and Sunday after the final round. The vote is by secret ballot, requiring an absolute majority in the first two rounds, or a relative majority in a third if needed.
In practice, however, the mayor is usually already known, as it is almost always the tête de liste (first name on the list) of the winning group. In smaller communes, the outcome can be less predictable and may only be decided once councillors meet.
What happens next
After the election, the municipal council meets at least once a quarter, with the mayor acting as both its administrative and political head.
There were 34,874 mayors in France at the last count (December 2025), and they have traditionally been important figures. In rural areas particularly, villagers will be quick to tell you if they have a good mayor, or one “who does nothing”.
But even the latter are often elected for more than one six-year term, because with the job and its stipend come responsibilities not everyone wants to assume.
How elections work
Municipal elections generally follow the same format as most other French elections: if no candidate receives 50% or more of the votes in the first round, a second-round is held a week later.
Unlike for other elections in France (namely the legislative for MPs and presidential election), this is not limited to the top two candidates from the first round, but any lists that receives more than 10% of the vote share.
Candidates who receive more than 5% but less than 10% can opt to join their list with another candidate running in the second round. Those with less than this are eliminated.
Council seats are distributed in two ways.
A main block of seats is automatically given to the winner (via an absolute majority in the first round or the largest vote share in the second) and is known as the majority bonus.
The remainder of the seats are shared proportionally between lists which receive above a certain threshold (including the winning list, sometimes allowing them to completely dominate a local council).
There are differences between communes of different sizes, detailed below.
How the vote works in communes with more than 1,000 inhabitants
In communes with more than 1,000 residents, councillors are appointed based on votes in both the first and second round.
A majority of available seats are automatically assigned to the list with the most votes in the final round (or which wins an absolute majority in the first).
Remaining seats on the council are distributed among the lists present in the final round that took more than 5% of the votes cast. This includes the majority list that has already been allocated a majority of seats.
This means the winning candidate usually has a large majority in the local council.
Voters cannot change the names on the list nor their order where pre-determined by an alliance which, as votes are cast for a wider alliance, may promote candidates or parties with which the voter may not necessarily agree.
Note the number of municipal councillors is tied to the size of the commune. For the larger cities (communes with 300,000 residents or more), the local council comprises 69 seats.
Communes with less than 1,000 inhabitants
In very small communes where less than 1,000 people reside, voting can still take place over two rounds if no candidate reaches an absolute majority in round one.
However, there are a number of changes to the voting process:
Shorter lists, and candidates can run fully independently (although still be supported by larger parties)
Fewer candidates are required to sit on the municipal council. Based on the overall population of the commune a certain number of seats can remain empty if there is no one to fill them
Voting ballots can be handwritten, and are open to being altered (i.e voters can change the order of the candidates on the list, etc)
Paris, Marseille, Lyon
France’s three largest cities have a slightly different voting process.
Voters in these cities elect both local councillors directly for their arrondissement (Paris, Lyon) or sector (Marseille) as well as municipal councillors to sit on the city council.
The municipal council deals with larger issues in the three cities – as well as vote for the city mayor – while sector or arrondissement councils focus on day-to-day matters.
Confusingly in Paris the main municipal councillors are just called ‘councillors’, but act the same as municipal councillors elsewhere.
Voters in these three cities therefore make two separate votes for these different councillors when at the polls.
For the municipal councillors, rules are the same regarding absolute majorities, requirements for the second round, etc.
However, the majority bonus for seat allocation upon winning in the second round is reduced from 50% (which is the case in all other communes), to 25%, for the municipal councillors/main councillors in Paris.
Most communes know results in first round
The vast majority of communes will see their mayor elected via a first round victory.
In 93% of communes (32,512 of 34,903), there are only one or two lists, meaning a group is either guaranteed to be elected via a lack of opposition, or that one list is guaranteed an absolute majority.
Indeed, more than 67% of communes (usually smaller in size) have one only one list running, effectively meaning there is no opposition.
Multiple groups tend to run only in larger communes, although these towns and cities do constitute a greater share of France’s overall population.
For example, more than a quarter of the population of the Alpes-Maritimes department live in Nice but combined only elect one mayor to the city.
