Today is local elections day in France. The first round of voting for the municipal (city, town, village) councils takes place according to a highly complicated system, which I've attempted to explain in more detail in Life in Lyon. Basically, as far as I can work out, there are different rules according to the size of commune - villages of less than 3500 inhabitants can vote for individual councillors, whereas those in larger communities are restricted to voting for 'lists' of candidates, usually drawn up along party lines, but not always, sometimes alliances are formed, sometimes local disagreements lead to two lists from the same party, etc, etc. All very French...
In Lyon opinion polls give the Socialists and sitting mayor around 50%, which mean they could win outright in the first round. A second round of voting takes place in two weeks if no one list wins more than 50% of the vote in the first round, and apparently often leads to a 'rearrangement' of lists, as horse-trading and new cross-party alliances are formed. All very French...
Being EU citizens we have the right to vote in local elections as long as we have registered to vote at the local mairie. Which we haven't. So at the moment we are a disenfranchised couple...
That didn't stop us going out for dinner last night to try a newly opened restaurant just round the corner. La Table des Mômes is the 3rd incarnation of a dining establishment in that particular location since we've been here. Our quartier has the peculiarity that it's very busy during during the working week, but somewhat off the beaten track during the evening and weekends, so unless new restaurants quickly build a reputation, even if they are busy at lunch, they are empty in the evenings and don't often last long.
Anyway, very nice it was too, friendly proprietor, inexpensive, delicious food. Maybe it will last longer than its predecessors...
