Tuesday 17 March 2015

Local elections here Sunday

Just as election fever (or apathy?) is growing in the UK, here in France Sunday 23rd March will see the first round of the Departmental Elections. Previously known as the "cantonales" the elections are to elect the Conseil Departmental (previously known as the Conseil Général). Not only the name has changed, but there is a fundamental difference in the cantons and the council to be elected.
Only French citizens can vote but the Department is still an important actor in our daily life.
In Tarn and Garonne the number of cantons has been reduced from 30 to 15 and we in our TAG area are in Quercy-Rouergue. This covers 25 communes of which St Antonin Noble Val and Caylus are the biggest.
Each canton must elect one man and one woman so the new council will have 15 men and 15 women who will serve for 6 years.
The main area of competence of the Department is welfare: aid to the elderly, handicapped, poor and families. Secondary education via the colleges is controlled at this level as are the school buses and the routes departmentales are built and maintained by the Department. The budget for 2015 amounts to 325 million euros for a population of 253000 inhabitants - a figure which has grown by 20% in the last 10 years.
The major parties are engaged in arguing that a vote for the Front National will let in either the Socialist or the UMP depending on who is normally second. The FN is saying simply vote for us and not the UMPS as they call it.
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