A regional council () is the elected assembly of a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

Regional councils were created by law on 5 July 1972. Originally they were simply consultative bodies consisting of the region's parliamentary representatives plus an equal number of members nominated by the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and communes. The decentralisation programme of 1982–1983 under President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

provided for direct election which began in 1986 and increased the powers of the councils.

Operation

The assemblies elect their presidents who preside over the meetings and head the regional executive.

Electoral system

Before 2004

Between 1986 and 2004, regional councils were elected by

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. The Front National was frequently left with the balance of power as a result and this led to a change in the electoral law.

Since 2004

Since 2004 three quarters of the seats continue to be elected by proportional representation with each list having an equal number of male and female candidates. The other quarter are given to the list that received the most votes. In order to gain these top up seats, a list must have gained an absolute majority of the votes in the first round. If this has not been achieved a second round is held with each party that gained at least ten percent of the votes competing. The party that wins a plurality in this round gains the bonus seats. It is common in this round for lower ranking parties to withdraw in favour of parties they have entered into an alliance with. This can however potentially mean that a list that gained fewer votes in the first round and thus fewer proportional seats can end up the overall winner.

List of councils

Current councils

Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes The Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes () is the deliberative assembly of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeast-central France. In 2016, the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes succeeded the Regional Council of Auvergne and ...

Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté The Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté () is the deliberative assembly of the regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Marie-Guite Dufay of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS) is the current president of th ...

Regional Council of Brittany In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), an ...

* Regional Council of Centre-Val de Loire * Corsican Assembly *

Regional Council of Grand Est The Regional Council of Grand Est (), formerly the regional council of Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine (), is the deliberative assembly of the regions of France, region of Grand Est. Jean Rottner of The Republicans (France), The Republicans (LR) ...

Regional Council of Guadeloupe The Regional Council of Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, ...

* Regional Council of Hauts-de-France *

Regional Council of Île-de-France The Regional Council of Île-de-France () is the regional council of Île-de-France, France's most populous administrative region. Made up of 209 regional councillors elected for 6 years, it is headquartered in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, just north ...

* Regional Council of Normandy *

Regional Council of Nouvelle-Aquitaine The Regional Council of Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the deliberative assembly of the Regions of France, French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The regional council is made up of 183 regional councilors elected for 6 years and is chaired by Alain Rousset. ...

* Regional Council of Occitania * Regional Council of Pays de la Loire * Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur *

Regional Council of Réunion The Regional Council (France), Regional Council of Réunion consists of 45 members. Organization and composition Regional assembly Presidency Since 2 July 2021, the President of the Regional Council of Réunion has been Huguette Bello. ...

Former councils

The following councils were disbanded after the merger of regions which came in effect since 1 January 2016: * Regional Council of Alsace * Regional Council of Aquitaine *

Regional Council of Auvergne The Regional Council of Auvergne (, ) was the deliberative assembly of the former French region of Auvergne. The assembly sat in Clermont-Ferrand. The regional council was made up of 47 regional councilors elected from its departments, distribut ...

* Regional Council of Burgundy *

Regional Council of Champagne-Ardenne The Regional Council of Champagne-Ardenne was the deliberative assembly of the former region of Champagne-Ardenne incorporated in the Grand Est region on 1 January 2016. It was headquartered in Châlons-en-Champagne, at 5 rue de Jéricho at Hôtel ...

Regional Council of Franche-Comté The Regional Council of Franche-Comté was the Regional council (France), regional council of Franche-Comté (France). It was chaired by Marie-Marguerite Dufay until its merger to form the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Seats By ...

Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon The Regional council of Languedoc-Roussillon was the deliberative assembly of the former French region of Languedoc-Roussillon, local authority decentralized acting on the regional territory. It was headquartered in Montpellier, in a ''Hôtel'' bu ...

* Regional Council of Limousin * Regional Council of Lorraine * Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées *

Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais The Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais was the deliberative assembly of the former French region Nord-Pas-de-Calais, a decentralized territorial community acting on the regional territory. It sat between 1974 and its disappearance in December ...

* Regional Council of Lower Normandy * Regional Council of Upper Normandy * Regional Council of Picardy * Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes *

Regional Council of Rhône-Alpes The Rhône-Alpes Regional Council was the Conseil régional of the former Rhône-Alpes region of France until its abolition on 1 January 2016 to form the new Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It was chaired by Jean-Jack Queyranne (). It included 157 ...

References

External links