The ParisâÂÂLyonâÂÂMarseille Laws, commonly abbreviated to the PLM Laws (), are a set of French laws that define how the municipal councils and mayors of the countryâÂÂs three largest citiesâÂÂParis, Lyon and MarseilleâÂÂare elected. The first of these PLM laws dates from 1982, and the second from 2025.
The legislation was championed by Interior Minister Gaston Defferre and was adopted in the context of the Defferre laws, or decentralisation laws, passed in March of that year. Under the Defferre laws, the arrondissements of each city had their local town halls () â which were previously local annexes of the central city hall run by city appointees â converted into arrondissement councils (conseils d'arrondissement) in Paris and Lyon and elected sector councils in Marseille (where sectors group multiple arrondissements). While being locally elected and similar in operation to a municipal council (), they have very few powers and are not full-service municipalities. They cannot raise taxes and instead administer budgets delegated by the central city hall.
The first of the PLM laws, Law No. 82-1170 of 31 December 1982, amended provisions of the French Electoral Code relating to the election of members of the Council of Paris and the municipal councils of Lyon and Marseille, establishing a special electoral status for the three most populous communes in France. Under the 1982 PLM electoral system, municipal elections in Paris, Lyon and Marseille were organised at the arrondissement (Paris and Lyon) or sector level (Marseille). Voters elected an arrondissement/sector council using the two-round proportional list system used in French communes of 1,000+ inhabitants. Approximately one third of those elected also sat on the citywide municipal council (or on the Council of Paris), and it is that citywide council that then elected the cityâÂÂs mayor (as in other French communes). The arrondissement/sector council then elected its own mayor (the arrondissement/sector mayor) after the city mayoral election.
In 2025, the second PLM law, Law No. 2025-795 of 11 August 2025, was passed. It substantially modifies the municipal electoral system in Paris, Lyon and Marseille and applies for the first time at the municipal elections scheduled for March 2026. The reform replaces the earlier âÂÂsingle, arrondissement/sector-basedâ election with two simultaneous ballots: one citywide ballot to elect councillors of Paris / the municipal councillors of Lyon and Marseille, and a second ballot to elect arrondissement/sector councillors. Both ballots use a two-round proportional list system, but the majority bonus is reduced to 25% for the citywide municipal ballot (while remaining 50% for the arrondissement/sector ballot). As elsewhere in France, the mayor of the city continues to be elected indirectly by the citywide council at its first sitting following the election.
Members of the Council of Paris and the municipal councils of Marseille and Lyon are elected using a specific electoral system: each of these communes is divided into sectors (in Lyon each arrondissement constitutes a sector; in Marseille two arrondissements form a sector; in Paris, arrondissements 1, 2, 3 and 4 are grouped into one sector, and each of the other arrondissements constitutes its own sector). In each sector, an election is held according to the rules applicable to communes with more than 1,000 inhabitantsâÂÂevery six years, by direct universal suffrage, using party-list proportional representation with a majority bonus.
Within each sector, one third of elected members sit both on the municipal council and on the arrondissement/sector council; the others sit only on the arrondissement/sector council:
The PLM law creates an elected arrondissement or sector council (), chaired by an elected arrondissement or sector mayor (), for each municipal arrondissement (or sector) in the three cities. The arrondissement/sector council includes the municipal councillors elected in the arrondissement (or sector), as well as additional councillors in a number that varies by arrondissement (or sector), taken from the candidate lists immediately following those elected to the municipal council. The number of arrondissement/sector councillors is double the number of municipal councillors, but may not be fewer than ten or more than forty.
The arrondissement/sector council is chaired by the arrondissement/sector mayor, elected from among the municipal councillors of the relevant arrondissement or sector. This election takes place eight days after the election of the mayor of the commune.
The mayor prepares and implements the deliberations of the arrondissement/sector council. The mayor authorises expenditure and receipts within the arrondissement/sector budget framework. Deputy mayors of arrondissement/sectors are elected under the same conditions as the arrondissement/sector mayor and may receive delegated responsibilities.
The arrondissement/sector mayor and their deputies serve as civil registry officers and are responsible within the arrondissement/sector for the functions that fall to the communeâÂÂs mayor in matters of civil registration, school affairs linked to the enforcement of compulsory education, and responsibilities under the National Service Code.
The arrondissement/sector mayor chairs the arrondissement school fund () and gives opinions on planning authorisations (building permits, etc.) and road occupation permissions issued by the mayor of the commune in the communeâÂÂs name. The mayor is also consulted on proposed acquisitions or sales of buildings planned by the commune within the arrondissement or sector, as well as on declarations submitted by owners under the right of first refusal ().
As noted above, the arrondissement/sector council elects the arrondissement/sector mayor from among the members of the municipal council, using the same procedures as the election of commune mayors.
The arrondissement/sector council:
The arrondissement/sector council may submit written questions to the commune mayor or request a debate in the municipal council on any matter affecting the arrondissement or sector.
Meetings of arrondissement/sector councils are public.
To exercise these powers, the arrondissement/sector mayor has commune employees assigned to them. Authority over evaluation, promotion, or disciplinary action is exercised by the commune mayor after consultation with the arrondissement/sector mayor.
The PLM law provides that the two local authorities established on the territory of Paris (the commune and the department) are henceforth administered by common bodies: the Mayor of Paris and the Council of Paris.
The powers of the Mayor of Paris remain limited by the specific powers of the Prefecture of Police, stemming in particular from the decree of the consuls of 12 Messidor Year VIII (1 July 1800), which set out the functions of the Prefect of Police in Paris, and by subsequent amending texts.
At the promulgation of the PLM law carried by Interior Minister Gaston Defferre, the sectors in Paris and Lyon followed arrondissement boundaries, while in Marseille the sectors were defined by a special division, each grouping between one and four arrondissements. Two months later, during the March 1983 municipal election in Marseille, Gaston Defferre was re-elected mayor of Marseille with fewer votes than Jean-Claude Gaudin, while nonetheless winning a majority of sectors.
In 2001, Gérard Collomb and Bertrand Delanoë became mayors of Lyon and Paris for the first time in similar circumstances, as did Anne Hidalgo in Paris in 2020, andâÂÂaccording to someâÂÂalso in 2014.
Thus, the electoral system used to elect the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille can result in the election of a mayor who is in the minority in the popular vote, a phenomenon also observed with the indirect system used to elect the President of the United States, which has on several occasions produced presidents without a popular-vote majority.
Although it has never happened, it is theoretically possible for a mayor to be elected while being in the minority both in votes and in sectors won. For example, in Paris in 2020, a candidate receiving 50.1% of the vote in head-to-head races in the 10th, 13th to 16th, and 18th to 20th arrondissements (8 sectors out of 17), and 0% in the others, would obtain 82 of the 163 seats in the Council of ParisâÂÂenough to be elected mayorâÂÂwith only 31.65% of the citywide popular vote. This share could be lowered further by imagining three- or four-way races rather than head-to-head contests in those arrondissements.
This same two-round party-list proportional system with a 50% majority bonus by sector was adopted for the election of the Metropolis of Lyon council under the 2015 MAPTAM law. However, the effects of electing a majority of metropolitan councillors with a minority of votes would be far more problematic than for municipal elections in Paris, Marseille and Lyon, given that the metropolitan level now holds nearly all powers in the Lyon urban area.
While he could of only been a candidate in only one arrondissement of Lyon, Louis Pradel came up with the idea during the 1965 municipal election of having all of his running-mates join an association called âÂÂP.R.A.D.E.L.â (Pour la Réalisation Active Des Espérances Lyonnaises) and including on ballot papers used in each of the cityâÂÂs nine arrondissements the wording âÂÂListe P.R.A.D.E.L.â (the Electoral Code preventing him from including his name). Voters for any of his nine lists thus knew which potential future mayor they were supporting. The strategy was so successful that Pradel won all arrondissements in the first roundâÂÂthus winning all nine arrondissement town halls and the central city hallâÂÂand his four successors used the same tactic.
The law modifying the rules for electing the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille was assented to on 11 August 2025 and published in the Journal officiel on 12 August 2025. The new law will apply for the first time at the municipal elections scheduled for March 2026. The 2025 law introduces two separate elections held at the same time. Voters therefore vote on the same day both to elect arrondissement/sector councillors and to elect municipal councillors for the commune as a whole. These elections use a two-round party-list proportional representation system. For the municipal election only, the new law reduces the majority bonus for the list finishing first in the first or second round to 25% (compared with 50% in other French communes and in arrondissements/sectors).
An article was added by MPs to codify the Paris City Hall practice of regularly convening arrondissement mayors to discuss topics of their choosing, and to extend this possibility to Lyon and Marseille. The General Code of Territorial Collectivities was therefore amended to provide in the three cities for a new coordination body known as the âÂÂconference of mayorsâ ().