Overview
- Communes under 1,000 inhabitants must file gender‑alternating slates for the March 2026 elections under a law passed on May 21, 2025.
- Lists must alternate woman–man throughout and cannot be modified after submission, increasing the risk of rejected filings.
- Rural mayors report too few willing candidates to meet the rule in villages of a few hundred residents, while supporters say the change will draw more women into local life.
- Noncompliant slates can be refused by prefects, leading to rerun elections and, some warn, potential mergers that could dissolve small communes.
- The reform ends the ability to strike names on ballots, curbing voter choice in towns long accustomed to panachage.