In Brest (Finistère), within the second spherical of the 2020 municipal election, the outgoing mayor, François Cuillandre (Socialist Party), acquired rather less than half of the votes (49.69%), however greater than three quarters of the seats on the municipal council (42 out of 55). An error? Absolutely not: this result’s the results of the voting technique used for municipal elections within the 35,000 municipalities of France, and which shall be used on Sundays March 15 and 22.
Once voters have voted, how are the seats on a metropolis council distributed? The electoral code explains every little thing… or nearly, with sophisticated expressions like “proportional representation” and “highest average”. Decoders enable you see issues extra clearly.
First step: the bulk bonus
The first step within the distribution of seats is straightforward: half routinely goes to the record that comes first, no matter its lead over the competing lists. This known as the “majority premium”. When the municipal council has an odd variety of seats, dividing it by two doesn’t give an entire quantity. As it isn’t potential to share a seat, the end result should be rounded as much as the closest complete quantity.
Second step: the electoral quotient
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