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Townships

The 2021 departmental and regional elections are postponed to 20 and 27 June 2021

Publié le 23 avril 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

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Due to the health risks associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, the departmental and regional elections are postponed to 20 and 27 June 2021. Originally scheduled for March 2021, they had been postponed to June 13 and 20, 2021. After an opinion from the Scientific Council on the risks associated with the organization of the elections and a consultation of the mayors, the poll is held in June but postponed by one week. Specific measures will be introduced. The law providing for this deferral was published in Official Journal February 23, 2021 and a new writ of summons on April 22, 2021.

Postponement of elections

The law postpones the elections for renewal from March to June 2021:

departmental councils;
regional councils;
assemblies of Corsica, Guyana and Martinique.

A decree summoning voters sets the election dates on June 20 and 27.

The terms of the currently serving members who were elected in March 2015 are being extended until June 2021.

Please note

The European authority of Alsace will have 3 months after the departmental elections to fix its seat and 6 months after these elections to adopt the conditions of employment of its staff.

Arrangements for voting

For these elections, arrangements are planned:

each elector will be able to have two powers of attorney against one usually (for those established in France);
polling station schedules from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. may be extended by prefectural order to limit the crossing of persons;
a single voting machine can be used for regional and departmental elections;
the same person may preside over the polling station for regional and departmental elections and the same person may act as secretary of the two polling stations if they are located in the same place;
double counting may be carried out by the same persons;
three weeks before the first round, mayors will have to report unvaccinated people who are likely to be members of polling stations. These people can then be offered vaccination. The state will also provide self-testing to communes;
the State will have to provide the municipalities for each polling station with appropriate health protection equipment (masks, etc.).

Election campaign

The election campaign is subject to special measures:

it is extended to 19 days (instead of usually 12 days). For the first round, the deadline is 0:00 a.m. on 31 May 2021 and 0:00 a.m. on 19 June 2021. In the event of a second round, the campaign will open at noon on June 21 and end at midnight on June 26, 2021;
the ceiling for propaganda expenditure shall be increased by 20% ;
candidates can set up a toll-free number, allowing voters to learn about their programs;
a communication on the elections, the role and functioning of the councils to be elected will be broadcast on public service channels;
pollsters will be required to report their margins of error.

FYI

The text of the law reflects the main recommendations of the Report delivered to the Prime Minister by Jean-Louis Debré on November 13, 2020. This further postponement was set by a decree published on 22 April 2021 following the Scientific Council opinion of 29 March 2021, at Government report to Parliament on health risks associated with the organization of elections and to a consultation of mayors.