Congress of Mayors: Poll says more than one in two elected officials don’t want to run again in 2026

This is a record for twenty years of investigation. According to an Ifop* survey published on Wednesday, the second day of the convention of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF ). In particular, the oldest mayors give up the fastest (72% of those over 70), as do rural mayors (56%) and those whose current budget is at least 10% of energy costs (62%).

90% of elected officials surveyed say they are concerned about rising energy prices for their municipality budget, according to this survey for energy management company Hellio and acteurs publics magazine.

“In this context, with a record number of mayors considering giving up, this study shows for the first time that this price explosion is pushing some to not pay their bills or even merge with a neighboring municipality,” Ifop said in a press release.

Less heat, turn off the lights.

For example, 16% of mayors surveyed are planning to merge with a neighboring municipality to cope with rising prices, “a sign of concerns about the sustainability of the hexagonal municipal fabric,” while 12% are considering not paying their supplier for additional costs. energy inflation.

More than half of mayors (55%) also plan to pool their energy supplies with other local governments to cut costs. Finally, out of 609 respondents, 63% of mayors said they were dissatisfied with the government’s efforts to help municipalities fight rising energy prices.

As for the answers to these questions, 85% of mayors intend to reduce heating of premises and equipment, 82% turn off lights at night, 24% raise local taxes and 74% start energy repairs. Only 9% want to close public services.

* The survey was conducted by telephone from October 20 to November 10 with the participation of 609 elected representatives of the mayors of France according to the quota method.