Candidates for a senatorial seat parade through town halls to obtain the support of elected officials. The mayors are part of the “major voters” in the senatorial elections which are being held on Sunday September 24.
It’s an election that we hear very little about: the senatorial elections take place on Sunday September 24. Half of the Senate is up for renewal, i.e. 170 seats to be taken, contested by more than 1,800 candidates. To nominate the new senators, 79,000 “electors” are called to the polls. They are mainly mayors and municipal councilors. They are studying the professions of faith of the candidates in the final stretch of their campaign.
Strong expectations in rural communities
In Loiret, almost all the candidates set this objective: to visit almost all of the 300 mayors of the department. For the mayor of Mareau-aux-Prés, Bertrand Hauchecorne, relationships are almost more important than political color: “When we know that these are people with whom we work well, who are not in political positions, who defend rural communities, that can play a big role.”
“When we have problems, when a factory risks closing for example, parliamentarians are there, alongside us, to relay things. In any case, we hope that they will be a relay between us and the government.”
Bertrand Hauchecorne, mayor of Mareau-aux-Présat franceinfo
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A few dozen kilometers away, in the town of Marigny-les-Usages, the municipal councilors are going through the professions of faith. They expect senators to listen to them. Among the deputies, Josette Lazarineau, responsible for finances, has a major concern to share with the candidates. “The State pays us a grant every year [la dotation globale de financement]. We receive around 130,000 euros, but in 2014, we had 240,000. We have almost half as much money as before with the increase in the population.”deplores the elected official.
“No one is there anymore”
To continue to carry out work, elected officials must constantly ask for subsidies. The mayor of Marigny-les-Usages, Philippe Beaumont, is tearing his hair out. “Now, to get the subsidies, you have to become a champion of the internet and researchhe sighs. The state created a whole bunch of agencies and a whole bunch of different things. No one knows where to find the grant anymore. All of this should be simplified and the State should remain in its own sovereign domains. Today, we have the impression that someone wants to lead us.”
“I don’t feel like I’m being heard nationally at all.”
Jean-Paul Antoine, mayor of Tavers (Loiret)at franceinfo
Philippe Beaumont does not have the impression of finding help on vital subjects such as the absence of doctors. His counterpart in the town of Tavers, Jean-Paul Antoine, encounters the same difficulty: “I’m rather discontented. I don’t have the impression of being heard at the national level at all.” But the chosen one does not despair: “Senators are a vector that allows things to be brought up.”
Jean-Paul Antoine will not fail in his duty as a “great voter”. He will go to the polls in a week, in particular because voting in the senatorial elections is compulsory, under penalty of a fine.
Mayors in the run-up to the senatorial elections: report by Audrey Tison