Abstract EN:

Only the concept of “local polling” covers both public consultation and referendums at a local level. Having been repudiated under a Third Republic eager to assert parliamentary sovereignty, local polling was later accepted by central authority. The current resurgence in its popularity testifies to the emergence of a localised power base. If this emergence appears genuine by reason of the recognition of local polling in French public law, it is nonetheless rendered modest because of the limited scope of the subjects polled. Although central power has accepted the principle of local polling, it has not drawn all the proper lessons attendant upon this principle. Indeed, the resurgence of polling can appear so restricted and shackled as to suggest it is no more than a disguised extension of central power. The power of local elected officials is thereby reduced, while that of the electorate is negated. Nothing less than substantial reform of the system of local consultation would ensure a genuine demonstration of local power in the matter of polling.