Cumul des mandats

The cumul des mandats (literally: "accumulation of mandates") is the French equivalent of the dual mandate in other countries. It is a political practice particularly common in France (as well as Belgium), in comparison to other Western countries. It consists of simultaneously holding two or more elective offices at different levels of government — local, regional, national and European — as mayors, MPs, senators, Members of the European Parliament, and President of the General Council in their home regions. Sometimes, officials hold as many as four positions. While officials may not be elected to more than one office at the same level (such as being both an MP and a senator), they may hold offices in any combination at the municipal, departmental, regional, national and European levels.

The cumul des mandats is controversial in France, being accused of fostering absenteeism and cronyism.

Multiple mandates at the legislative level

Parliamentary mandates are incompatible with each other:

A member from one of the above assemblies can not combine its mandate with more than one of the following mandates :

Exceptions: They can hold a third office in a town of less than 3,500 inhabitants.

They may also hold a third office as a councillor, vice-president or president of an Urban community, an Agglomeration community or a Communauté de communes, as these terms are elected by indirect universal suffrage, by municipal councils from among the councillors.

For example, a member of the National Assembly has the right to be general/regional councillor or President of a regional/general council. They cannot hold a third office unless they are the mayor, deputy mayor or municipal councillor of a city of less than 3,500 inhabitants.

Currently, 87% of members of the National Assembly and 74% of senators have one or several local mandates.

The accumulation of local mandates

They cannot have more than two local mandates.

The following mandates are incompatible each other:

For example, an elected official cannot be mayor and President of the Regional Council. However, all other local mandates are cumulative. A mayor can also be a general councillor and a president of a Regional Council can also be deputy-mayor of a city.

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