Municipal: 95% of campaign accounts have been approved

Nearly 95% of municipal candidates have had their campaign accounts approved, and no mayor elected in March 2026 has had their account rejected, according to a first report communicated Wednesday by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP). The Commission, which must control 4,879 campaign accounts submitted by the leading candidates in municipalities with more than 9,000 inhabitants and the districts of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, published the decisions rendered on 1,282 accounts in the 278 ballots which were the subject of a dispute. Lyon, Marseille, Nice and Strasbourg are among the large cities examined. For the other accounts, their control is still in progress and will be completed no later than November 23.

Out of 1282 decisions, only 88 accounts were not approved: 40 were not submitted or were late. 48 were rejected for reasons of “incomplete or disingenuous accounts, electoral expenses exceeding the authorized ceiling and situations in which the Commission noted the use by a candidate of means belonging to a community or an association”, according to the CNCCFP press release. For these cases, which do not concern any elected mayor or known personality, the administrative court is seized and can pronounce the ineligibility of the candidate.

Precise regulations

“The regulation of electoral expenses is precise and known quite widely by the candidates, which explains why there are not that many rejections,” stressed the president of the CNCCFP Christian Charpy to AFP. On the other hand, of the 1282 accounts examined, around 40% were approved after modification. The candidates thus declared having spent 36.6 million euros during their campaign, but the commission excluded nearly 820,000 euros of expenses which, according to it, were not of an electoral nature. For example, it reduced the expenses of the candidate defeated in Lyon Jean-Michel Aulas from 333,000 to 319,000 euros.

Personal contribution (equity or loan) represents 66% of the 39 million revenue declared by the candidates, ahead of donations from individuals and party contributions. Around 21 million euros in lump-sum state reimbursements were paid to candidates who obtained at least 5% of the vote.