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In France, amayor (French:maire,pronounced[mɛʁ]ⓘ) is chairperson of themunicipal council, which organises the work and deliberates on municipal matters. The mayor also has significant powers and their own responsibilities, such as the responsibility for the activities ofmunicipal police and for the management of municipal staff.
The officeholder is also the representative of thestate in the commune. As such, the mayor is a civil officer of the State (Officier d'état civil) and judiciary police officer (Officier de police judiciaire). The term period of office for a mayor is six years.
From 1789 to 1799 municipal officials (mayors) were directly elected for 2 years and re-elected by the active citizens of the commune with taxpayers contributing at least 3 days of work to the commune. Those who were eligible could instead pay a tax equivalent to not less than 10 days of work.
In 1799 the constitution of 22Frimaire year VIII (13 December 1799) revoked the direct election of the mayor, with mayors of communes of less than 5,000 inhabitants being appointed by theprefect. This constitution established the nomination of mayors and councilors. After 1831 mayors were appointed (by the king for communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants, by the prefect for smaller), but councilors were elected for six years.
From 3 July 1848 to 1851 mayors were elected by the municipal council for communes with less than 6,000 inhabitants.
From 1851 to 1871 mayors were appointed by the prefect for communes with less than 3000 inhabitants and for a term of 5 years from 1855 on.
Since 1871 mayors have been elected by their peers by themunicipal council following their election byuniversal suffrage.
There are, however, six French communes that do notelect their mayor by universal suffrage with the mayor being appointed by the Prefect. Specifically these are villages which were devastated during theBattle of Verdun in 1916 and never rebuilt because of large amounts of unexploded ordnance and land pollution. These areBezonvaux,Beaumont-en-Verdunois,Cumières-le-Mort-Homme,Fleury-devant-Douaumont,Haumont-près-Samogneux andLouvemont-Côte-du-Poivre.[1]
The mayor is the chairman of themunicipal council, and is elected bysecret ballot of municipal councilors during the first meeting of the Municipal Council that must be held between Friday and Sunday following themunicipal elections.[2][3]
If no candidate obtains an absolute majority after two rounds of voting the election proceeds to a third round which requires only a simple majority. In case of a tie, the oldest candidate wins.[4]
As for other councilors, the mayor must be at least 18 years of age when elected to office.[3] The mayor must be aFrench national.[5] Councilors (except for mayors and deputies) can be citizens of a member country of theEuropean Union.
Mayoral duties are considered a conflict of interest with those of a president of aregional council, President of ageneral council (the name of which is being changed toconseil départemental (departmental councilor) after the local elections of 2015), as well as aEuropean Commissioner, a member of theExecutive Board of the European Central Bank or a member of the board of monetary Policy theBanque de France.[3]
There are even some positions in the Directorate of Public Finances which are in conflict: notably those in charge of collecting or controlling taxation,[6] the holder of which office can not be elected mayor or deputy mayor.Volunteer firefighters can not be elected mayor of a commune of 3,500 inhabitants or more, nor deputy mayor of a commune of over 5,000 inhabitants.[7]
The law ondual mandates allows a mayor to hold a single elective office (Deputy of the National Assembly,Senator,Regional Councilor,Departmental Councilor) in addition to his municipal office. The office of municipal councilor is not considered as an elective office for this purpose.
Currently a member of the government can serve as Mayor. However, in 1997 and 2007, since various prime ministers had demanded ministers and state secretaries resign their mayoral offices, most of them then became first deputy mayors.
The Municipal Council also elects the deputy mayor (in French,adjoint au maire ormaires-adjoints) having determined, by resolution, the number of deputy mayors. As for mayors they must be of French nationality and not be financial administration officials involved in the conflicts mentioned above, nor volunteer firefighters in municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. In addition: "paid employees of the mayor can not be selected if the employment is directly related to the exercise of the office of mayor".[8]
The number of deputy mayors is, at most, 30% of the city council.[9] Thus, for municipalities with less than 100 inhabitants, where the city council is composed of, as in the2014 French municipal elections, seven city councilors,[10] the mayor may have a maximum of two deputies.
For municipalities with more than 80,000 inhabitants, in addition to the deputy-mayors, other council members may be appointed to be "mainly responsible for one or morequartiers (districts)" with the number appointed not exceeding 10% of the city council workforce.[11] These appointees are elected by the municipal council according to the same rules as those applicable to the election of the mayor.
Since the2008 municipal elections, deputy mayors of municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants are elected by aparty list with anabsolute majority and withoutpanachage[Note 1] norinstant run-offs in accordance with the principle of parity.[12] Commencing from the municipal elections in 2014, these regulations apply to communes with more than 1,000 inhabitants in order to promote equality between men and women.[13]
In case of dissolution of a Municipal Council, the resignation of all its members in office, the final cancellation of the election of its members, or if the Municipal Council can not be constituted, aspecial delegation, appointed by the prefecture within eight days, performs the functions of the municipal council.[14]
This special delegation elects its president and, if applicable, its vice-president. The President or, failing that, the vice president acts in the office of mayor. Its powers cease upon installation of the new municipal council.[15]
The duration of themandate for a mayor is equal to that of the municipal council - i.e. six years.[16][17] The mayor can be reelected at the end of his term.
The mayor has his own mandate: he may resign freely and, in case of death or removal from office by court order or decision of the Council of Ministers, be replaced without causing new municipal elections.[18]
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The mayor is both agent of the State and of the commune as alocal government entity.
The powers and duties of the mayor are particularly defined by the general code of local government (Code général des collectivités territoriales) namely:
Under the authority ofprefect, the mayor performs administrative functions, including: