CHAPTER II: The mayor and deputy mayors

In communes with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, deputies are elected under the conditions set out in Article L. 2122-7. When it is necessary, in the event of a vacancy, to appoint a new deputy, the Town Council may decide that he or she will occupy, in the order of the table, the same rank as the elected representative who previously occupied the post that has become vacant.

In municipalities with a population of 1,000 or more, deputy councillors are elected by an absolute majority of the votes cast, without any combination of votes or preferential votes. The list is composed alternately of one candidate of each sex. If, after two ballots, no list has obtained an absolute majority, a third ballot is held and the election takes place by relative majority. In the event of a tie,…

The meeting at which the mayor is elected is chaired by the eldest member of the municipal council. For any election of the mayor or deputy mayors, the members of the municipal council are convened in the forms and within the time limits laid down in articles L. 2121-10 à L. 2121-12. The notice convening the meeting contains a special mention of the election to be held. Prior to this…

In communes of 1,000 inhabitants or more, when it is necessary to elect a new mayor, the municipal council is deemed to be complete if the only vacancies that exist within it are the consequence of:

The mayor and deputy mayors are elected for the same term as the municipal council. However, in communes of 1,000 inhabitants or more, the term of office of the mayor and deputy mayors ends automatically when the administrative court, by a decision that has become final, has rectified the results of the election of municipal councillors in such a way that the majority of seats has been allocated to a…

The special deputy referred to in article L. 2122-3 is elected by the council from among the councillors and, in the absence of a councillor residing in this fraction of a commune or if he is prevented from doing so, from among the inhabitants of the fraction.

The elections of the mayor and deputy mayors are made public, by means of posters, within twenty-four hours.

The election of the mayor and deputy mayors may be challenged as invalid under the conditions, in the forms and within the time limits prescribed for complaints against elections to the municipal council.

When the election of the mayor or deputy mayors is annulled or, for any other reason, the mayor or deputy mayors have ceased to hold office, the council is convened to proceed with the replacement within the fortnight. However, if the council is in one of the cases provided for in Article L. 2122-8, the necessary elections are held and the municipal council is convened to proceed with the replacement,…

The resignation of the mayor or a deputy mayor is sent to the representative of the State in the department. It is definitive as from its acceptance by the representative of the State in the department or, in the absence of such acceptance, one month after a new dispatch of the resignation recorded by registered letter. The mayor and deputy mayors continue in office until their successors are installed, subject…