Articles
Authors: Jean-Benoît Pilet , Pascal Delwit , Emilie Van Haute
The last local elections in Wa llonia were marked by the introduction of a new legislation concerning the way mayors are appointed. Before 2006, mayors were appointed by the regional government. Since the last elections, a new decree institutes that is automatically appointed mayor the candidate having most preferential votes from the list having most seats. vIn this article, we explore how the new legislation has affected the way voters behave in 2006 and also how it has affected parties when it comes to coalition agreements. What appears is that the new legislation has a fairly limited impact. Voters did not cast more preferential votes in 2006 than in 2000. The logies of coa litions have not been changed significantl y. Finally, the only notable - even if not spectacular - impact of the new Walloon decree is that the elections have been much more focused on the candidates that were leading their list, the ones that were presented by their party as their candidate to become mayor. These candidates have more often been appointed mayors in 2006 than in 2000 and the proportion of preferential votes that they have received is higher in 2006. In that sense, even if the degree of change must not be exaggerated, Wa lloon loca l elections are slightly turn ing into a horse race between candidates leading their list.
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How to Cite: Pilet, J. , Delwit, P. & Van Haute, E. (2007) “Eerste lessen uit de automatische benoeming van burgemeesters in Wallonië”, Res Publica. 49(1).