Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

The Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (French: Conseil régional de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) is the deliberative assembly of the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Marie-Guite Dufay of the Socialist Party (PS) is the current president of the regional council, elected on 4 January 2016, following the regional elections on 6 and 13 December 2015.

Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Conseil régional de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Coat of arms of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Logo of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Type
Type	Regional council
History
Preceded by	Regional council of Burgundy Regional council of Franche-Comté
New session started	2 July 2021
Leadership
President	Marie-Guite Dufay, PS since 4 January 2016
Structure
Seats	100
Political groups	Majority (57)   Socialist Party (41)   Europe Ecology – The Greens (8)   French Communist Party (8) Opposition (43)   The Republicans (18)   National Rally (18)   Ensemble Citoyens (7)
Elections
Voting system	Two-round list proportional representation system with majority bonus
Last election	20 and 27 June 2021
Next election	2028
Meeting place
4 square Castan CS 51857 – 25031 Besançon cedex
Website
www.bourgognefranchecomte.fr

History

The regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté was created by the act on the delimitation of regions, regional and departmental elections and amending the electoral calendar of 16 January 2015, which went into effect on 1 January 2016 and merged the regional councils of Burgundy and Franche-Comté,^[1] consisting of 57 and 43 regional councillors, respectively, into a single body with 100 regional councillors, following regional elections on 6 and 13 December 2015.^[2][3]

Seat

On 24 June 2016, the members of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional council voted in favor of a proposal by Marie-Guite Dufay, president of the regional council, to designate Dijon as the prefecture of the newly unified region and agreed to select the Hôtel de Région at 4 square Castan in Besançon as the seat of the regional council. The previous seat of the regional council of Burgundy, located at 17 boulevard de la Trémouille in Dijon, became the meeting place of assemblies of the regional council. The plan was approved with 79 votes in favor, 18 votes against, and 3 abstentions.^[4][5][6]

Election results

2015 regional election

The current regional council was elected in regional elections on 6 and 13 December 2015, with the list of Marie-Guite Dufay consisting of the Socialist Party (PS), the Radical Party of the Left (PRG), and Cap21 securing an absolute majority of 51 seats.^[7][8]

Leader		List	First round		Second round		Seats
			Votes	%	Votes	%	Seats	%
	Sophie Montel	FN	303,143	31.48	376,913	32.44	24	24.00
	François Sauvadet	UDI–LR	231,069	24.00	382,216	32.89	25	25.00
	Marie-Guite Dufay	PS–PRG–Cap21	221,376	22.99	402,916	34.67	51	51.00
	Maxime Thiébaut	DLF	49,802	5.17
	Nathalie Vermorel	FG	44,471	4.62
	Cécile Prudhomme	EELV	37,707	3.92
	Christophe Grudler	MoDem	31,431	3.26
	Julien Gonzalez	AEI	20,616	2.14
	Claire Rocher	LO	14,518	1.51
	Charles-Henri Gallois	UPR	8,835	0.92
Total			962,968	100.00	1,162,045	100.00	100	100.00
Valid votes			962,968	95.38	1,162,045	95.18
Blank votes			27,341	2.71	28,761	2.36
Null votes			19,252	1.91	30,056	2.46
Turnout			1,009,561	50.56	1,220,862	61.15
Abstentions			987,118	49.44	775,714	38.85
Registered voters			1,996,679		1,996,576
Source: Ministry of the Interior, Le Monde (parties)

Composition

Political groups

The regional council currently consists of four political groups.

Political group		Members	Parties
	My Region by heart	41	PS, PRG, DVG
	Union of the Republicans of the Right and the Centre	18	LR, DLF, DVD
	National Rally	18	RN
	Ecologists and solidarity	8	EÉLV
	Communists and Republicans	8	PCF
	Group of progressive representatives	7	LREM

Executive

Presidents

On 4 January 2016, Marie-Guite Dufay of the Socialist Party (PS), who presided over the regional council of Franche-Comté before its merger, was elected president of the regional council. Despite the fact the left held a majority, Dufay was not elected in the first round of the ballot, securing only 49 votes against Sophie Montel with 24 votes and 27 blank votes (the right having decided not to present a candidate), because two members of the Radical Party of the Left (PRG) withheld their support for Dufay in the first round in order to secure vice presidencies.^[9] She was subsequently elected with 51 votes in a second ballot.^[10]

Candidate	Party		First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
Marie-Guite Dufay		PS	49	49.00	51	51.00
Sophie Montel		FN	24	24.00	24	24.00
Votes			100	100.00	100	100.00
Blank and null votes			27	27.00	25	25.00
Valid votes			73	73.00	75	75.00

Vice presidents

In addition to the president, the executive of the regional council also includes 15 vice presidents, as well as regional councillors serving as advisers on certain policy areas.^[11][12]

Number	Regional councillor	Group		Delegate for	Department
1st vice president	Michel Neugnot		PS	Finance, human resources, modernization of the administration, transport, travel and intermodal transport	Côte-d'Or
2nd vice president	Laurence Fluttaz		PS	Culture and heritage	Saône-et-Loire
3rd vice president	Eric Houlley		PS	Territorial cohesion and parks	Haute-Saône
4th vice president	Frédérique Colas		PS	Ecological transition and the environment	Yonne
5th vice president	Patrick Molinoz		PS	Youth, associative life, laïcité, innovation and digital development of territories	Côte-d'Or
6th vice president	Maude Clavequin		PS	Higher education, research and university, and evaluation	Territoire de Belfort
7th vice president	Jean-Claude Lagrange		PS	Economic development, new growth and employment	Saône-et-Loire
8th vice president	Océane Charret-Godard		PS	Continuing education, economic change, territorial social dialogue and guidance	Côte-d'Or
9th vice president	Sylvain Mathieu		PS	Wood, forest and mountain	Nièvre
10th vice president	Laëtitia Martinez		PS	Sport, equality and citizenship	Saône-et-Loire
11th vice president	Patrick Ayache		PS	European and international action, the planning contract, attractiveness, tourism and export	Doubs
12th vice president	Sophie Fonquernie		PS	Agriculture, viticulture and agribusiness	Doubs
13th vice president	Stéphane Guiguet		PS	Lycées and apprenticeships	Saône-et-Loire
14th vice president	Valérie Depierre		PS	Health and social facilities, disabled people	Jura
15th vice president	Denis Hameau		PS	Social and solidarity economy	Côte-d'Or

Committees

The regional council includes 5 thematic committees responsible for examining files on policy areas and submitting their deliberations to the vote of the 33-member standing committee or a plenary session.^[11][12]

Committee	President	Group		Department
Finance, citizenship and evaluation of public policies, European funds, planning contract, human resources, general administration and communication	Alain Joyandet		LR–UDI	Haute-Saône
Economic development for employment, social and solidarity economy, agriculture, wood, forestry, tourism	Nathalie Leblanc		PS	Saône-et-Loire
Apprenticeship and vocational training, health and social, lycées, higher education, research	Muriel Verges-Caullet		PS	Yonne
Development of territories, transport, travel, intermodal transport, ecology, energy, health, digital infrastructure, mountains, parks	Jacqueline Ferrari		PS	Jura
Culture, international relations, sport, youth and associative life, laïcité, fight against discrimination, gender equality	Pascale Massicot		PS	Nièvre