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Elections Municipal


PeterCD
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[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]

Opposition list, goodness me no, that would mean more than 11 people being interested in the election, nice and sedate in our little commune of 148 potential voters and we only have 190 odd inhabitants.  Our local big town has 3 lists so that should make for an interesting count this evening.

I'm on election duty this afternoon - I'm one of the scrutin team - so have 2.5 hours of waiting for people to come in to vote, must take something to read cos from memory in the UK, it can get very boring.

Obligatory aperos this evening when the count is finished apparently!

[/quote]

I'm on duty too from 2 to 3 this afternoon.  Then at about 7.30 it's aperos and results at one of the adjoint sortantes houses then the local bar is booked for cous-cous at 9 hopefully accompanied by lots of Champagne [;-)]

BTW there are about 1000 in our commune but even so the second list did find it tricky to find enough people to fill it.

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Goodness me, J & I went to do the deed and voila, there was a late entrant who turned up this morning at the mayor's house, at 7.30, with his papers (no list, just him) and all ready to stand.

He's the last mayor who, by all accounts, is a real little rascal, doesn't really live in the commune and thinks he's going to get back in with a landslide.  All the other people on the list I spoke to this morning were muttering darkly that if gets back in (highly unlikely judging by the number of his slips in the poubelle in the booth) they'll resign immediately.

Not enough of us to have a good punch-up and it's all happening in 24 folks!! Democratic system and process seen to be working.

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Great fun. Walk in and find two piles of voting forms and two neat piles of little blue envelopes (though there is only one list). Help self to form and envelope (more if wished??). Post envelope in Urne (I enjoyed the "ding" as the mechanism dropped the envelope into the container and registered the extra vote). Belatedly proffer Carte Electorale and suggest that someone stamp it - duly done by one of the three (of 11) candidates manning the place (I suppose the other candidates will be sharing the task this afternoon).

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Have just done my stint on the bureau.  At 3.30 we were up to a turn out of 75% (of 774 voters).  Not bad.  Bit annoying though that there was a constant huddle of people from the second list outside the Mairie, sometimes almost blocking the doorway!

Going back just after six to watch the counting.

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Job done also but I was a bit surprised to find our two names on a scrutineer's sheet all by themselves as the only two foreigners registered to vote in the commune.

There is at least one other family who I think have been here longer than us.

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All 'etrangers' are listed seperately on green sheets at the front of the electoral document that you sign after voting.

Of course not everyone has bothered to register to vote, even if they know they could.  I know of three English households whom I reminded to register in December but didn't bother because they didn't want to for whatever reason.

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Never seen so many people in the village around the Mairie.

We'd never received our Cartes Electorales, but I dropped by the Mairie yesterday to confirm that we were registered.  "Yes, you are - didn't you get your cards?"

Duly voted.  Weren't allowed to for the Cantonale (don't know why, but no problem).

Got together with some people we know for a few drinks at the Salle des Fetes afterwards - one of them turned out to be one of the candidates. We all agreed that the Conseil needed a breath of fresh air (or a rocket up it's ass!!)  V much hope that she gets elected.

Seems that we're in line for a female Maire - after a dodgy-dealing, stood-down predecessor, followed by a 91yo stand-in rogue, she'll be 1000% better.  Ahhhh, democracy.

    

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[quote user="Gardian"]Weren't allowed to for the Cantonale (don't know why, but no problem).[/quote]

Since the Maastricht Treaty, European citizens have been able to vote

to elect their European MP and local councillors. However, they cannot

vote at regional or national level.

Since, the élections cantonales choose the representative at the Conseil Général, European citizens are not eligible to vote.

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Thanks Clair. 

There were a few brief moments of havoc when we 'offered ourselves' at the Cantonale salle, and cries for "Where's the Secretaire", to obtain guidance.  After 10 secs, we all agreed that in her absence, there was no big loss to democracy and that we'd bail out as gracefully as possible.  Never a dull moment, eh?

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Well, it's 2.45am and I've just got back home from the count!

The count started at 6.30 and finished at 11.30!! There were about 650 bulletins (15 names each) of the 770ish eligible voters and many of them were panachages listes, each and every name had to be read out and counted from each bulletin.

When the final result came in it was an unprecendeted landslide win for my liste, complete, thrashed the opposing list, never happened before - it has always gone to a second round.  We could see as the count was being done how it was going by looking over the shoulders of the scrutineers and we were on tenterhooks all evening. The Canton office kept phonng to see if we were finished but it went on for ages.

Our 7.30 aperos went by the by (re-scheduled for next sunday morning!!) and we eventually got to our 9pm bar meal at midnight thirty!

Anyway I and my fellow colistiers are now officially the new Conseil Municipal, the opposition went away with their tails between their legs! I am sooo glad it isn't going to a second round.

I'm a bit sloshed BTW -  LOTS of champagne [:-))][:D]

Better get to bed - it's la rentrée tomorrow and I've got to get the kids to school [:$]

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Morning folks.

Congrats to all the above who got voted in.  When I got to the vote yesterday afternoon I found I was also on the bureau de vote so was involved in the scrutin and the count for the Municipale.  All very straight forward really, 127 voters appeared from 148 possibles and we could account for all the no-shows.  I even managed to deal with a couple of 'mandates'.

As for the count, it was truly bizzare.  Some voters voted for all new candidates, some voters voted for all old candidates, several people only voted for the old mayor who thankfully only got 30 votes (come on people work it out, you can't have a council of 1) but it was mainly the list.  The list that is, apart from the 9 candidates who had their name written on ballot papers after others were crossed through and who had no intention of standing so in the end we had votes cast for 21 people.

Anyway, I came 7th which I though (and so did the others) that it was a good showing for an estranger  and got more than several of the people who were already on the Council.

As for the Cantonale, the PS and PCF got over 100 votes combined and the rightist group (UPM and their supporters) got 8.  As one of the other councillors explained to me, this area maintains the ethos of the revolution and militancy so that wasn't a surprise at all.

Aperos whilst we did all the proces-verbal and then I left them all to it, was getting a bit boozy by then.

I think it's all rather exciting actually and not at all what I ever thought I'd be doing when I moved to France but I hope it's all part of the integration process and I was told it may make getting my citizenship a bit easier in a couple of years time.

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Good morning.  Congratulations to the others who got elected.  I was 8th on our list of 15 - and whole list got in so we don't have to do it again next week!  Just as well as unlike Tony I stayed for the boozy bit and can't do that too many times in a row.

Have to say the fashion of reading out all the papers was a bit of a surprise and in bigger communes (we have 560 voters, 432 voted) I think they are probably still counting now.  I also think it very odd that you can add the names of people who aren't standing to the list.  Very silly and a waste of time, but obviously a spot for reviving old feuds!  Next stop the election of mayor on Friday - should be interesting as the outgoing mayor was not near the top of his own list.

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Still slightly hung over from the aperos! 19 councillors here, and two lists. 7 elected from each list, and I as the only resortissant managed to get 505 votes (out of1125 cast), so feel quite pleased with myself, but Ishall be in the play-off next Sunday. I think my appearance on France3 helped. If anyone wants to seit, its here  http://jt.france3.fr/, 12/13 Limosin, Vendredi 7 Mars. Cheers, and good luck to anybody else who is in next Sunday's vote.

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[quote user="Cerise"]Have to say the fashion of reading out all the papers was a bit of a surprise and in bigger communes (we have 560 voters, 432 voted) I think they are probably still counting now. [/quote]

We had 705 voters listed (4 Europeans including Mr Clair). 628 voted, 16 of the votes were disallowed (some people chose to settle some old feuds by writing various choice words opposite some names!!). There was potential for fisticuffs, but all parties chickened out of it [:-))]

We finished counting at 11:45 and stayed behind to do all the checks and sign all the paperwork. I left them to it around midnight...

There was an opportunity to elect a new team with links in the Conseil Général, but the most of current lot got re-elected, which is a disappointment as they have not achieved much (in my eyes).

Back next week for a second round and hopefully some nosh too!
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[quote user="Cerise"]

Have to say the fashion of reading out all the papers was a bit of a surprise and in bigger communes (we have 560 voters, 432 voted) I think they are probably still counting now.  I also think it very odd that you can add the names of people who aren't standing to the list.  Very silly and a waste of time, but obviously a spot for reviving old feuds!  Next stop the election of mayor on Friday - should be interesting as the outgoing mayor was not near the top of his own list.

[/quote]

Apparently it is not at all uncommon for standing maires to not do too well in the vote - their position means they can't please everybody. Ours only got 7 more votes than our new britannique councillor. She (Judie) was an independent, so was one of the names that had to be written on the list. Because we are such a small commune the count only took about 40 minutes but all the paperwork was another couple of hours.

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Congratulations to Mrs Will. [:D] And to

everyone else who stood and have been elected.

I was surprised by the level of our commune turnout. We have an electorate of

around 160 people... and 151 voted. Ten out of 11 of our "main list"

candidates got in with 50%+ of the vote and there is one place remaining which needs to

be decided by second ballot next week. I don't know whether the turnout was

influenced by a 4-course commune lunch - which was arranged using the election

as a bit of an excuse for a get-together to vote and eat, [:P] but I'm extremely

impressed by the lack of apathy. The count was so well-attended it was

standing room only and took nearly two hours.

One thing I did find strange was

there were a fair few kids there - aged from about 5 - 12. They mostly had

seats while some of the elderly of the commune stood. No parent pushed their

child off a seat and offered it to one of those aged 70+. Possibly the downside

of égalité. [8-)]

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All 15 on our main list got elected. The list included 5 new candidates, one of them being Mr Cat. [:)]  The challenging team were comprehensively thrashed, although the two independent candidates did surprisingly well. 

We had the usual few white "protest" votes, and a few Brits managed to put crosses next to the names they wanted to vote for, rather than crossing out the names they didn't.  One chap (the one heading the challenging team) even managed to vote twice by using his own and his wife's voting cards!   She had to be found and dragged down to the voting hall to sign the register, and lost her own right to vote.  Her husband said that he had forgotten that he had already voted [Www]

 

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After 3 hours sleep and a moderately sore head I can openly admit that the French way of celebrating their parties win is an experience I will not forget. My first meeting of the day started at 7.30 am and after policing the voting process all day and monitoring the count all evening I can honestly say that when the result was finally announced at almost 1am I was in need of a drink.

In Bagneres de Luchon we delivered a landslide, ousting the existing mayor with a massive swing in the vote from the previous election. What came as a surprise to me (though not to others) was the turnout which must have been around 80%.

Our entire list was elected with an average of 1320 votes each, (the outgoing mayor only received 860) which is a strong mandate from which to deliver our programme for the next 6 years.

What really blew me away was after the result was announced in front of the hundreds of people inside the Marie, I left the Marie with my wife only to find at least two hundred more followers at the foot of the steps who amazingly started clapping and cheering in unison, and as ever the singing continued long into the night.

Luchon is a big town, but one with a big heart and it is a place that I am proud to say is "home".

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