The
municipal elections are making a comeback on these
Sunday, March 15 and 22, 2026, across
Paris and throughout France. But in the capital, there’s a
new development following the recent reform of the voting process introduced on August 11. You will need to vote for your new mayor — yes — but
twice! One ballot will be for selecting your district councilors, and a separate one will be for electing the city councilors at
Paris City Hall.
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No need for multiple trips to the polling station; these ballots will be inserted sequentially into two separate ballot boxes. In Paris, residents will therefore need to make two choices: one vote will elect borough councilors, who then choose the borough mayor from among themselves; the other vote will elect members of the City Council of Paris, which designates the overall mayor of Paris.
However, the voting process might take a bit longer than usual, since voters will need to follow two different voting procedures.
Borough Council
- The list that wins an absolute majority in the first round or comes in first in the second round secures half of the seats (50%).
- The remaining seats are allocated proportionally among all lists receiving at least 5% of the vote.
- Number of councilors varies from 8 to 55 depending on the borough.
- The Borough Council elects the borough mayor.
City Council of Paris
- The list that wins an absolute majority in the first round or comes in first in the second round earns a quarter of the seats (25%).
- The remaining seats are distributed proportionally among all lists with at least 5% of the vote.
- There are 163 members on the City Council of Paris.
- The council elects the mayor of Paris.
