The next municipal elections are scheduled for the end of May, 2011. You will quickly become familiar with the candidates’ faces mounted on virtually every billboard in town.

Yes, this is the time, every four years, when construction crews fill the air with dust and smells of fresh asphalt. Roads are paved, gardens freshly landscaped and fresh paint is splashed about with great abandon. It’s election time and the party in power has been saving for this moment from the time the mayor entered office.

But don’t wait until there are visible reminders that someone is trying desperately to impress you with irresistible promises of a better future, visit your town hall now to ensure that you qualify to vote and place your name (if it is not too late) on the electoral register.

Voting is by the D’ Hondt method of proportional representation. Each party publishes lists of candidates ranked in order of importance and equal to the number of local councilor seats to be elected. Councilors are elected in proportion to the total votes. For example in a town with 15 councilors a party who gained 60% of the vote would have 9 councilors. Within one month of the election the councilors must meet to vote their Mayor. The Major would naturally belong to the majority party and then appoint his/her councilors as an executive board to head the council departments, usually as full time salaried employees. If no party wins a majority the minority parties will form a coalition group which does not necessarily include the ‘winning’ party.

Additionally the membership of “provincial deputations” are indirectly elected according to the results of municipal elections, and all of their members must be councilors of a town or city in the province.

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