Editing Mayotte (section)

== Politics ==
{{main|Politics of Mayotte}}
{{Further|Elections in Mayotte}}
[[File:Le conseil départemental (Mamoudzou, Mayotte) (34746660561).jpg|thumb|The departmental council in Mamoudzou]]
[[File:EU OCT and OMR map en.png|thumb|left|Map of the European Union in the world with overseas countries and territories and outermost regions (prior to [[Brexit]])]]
[[File:House in Kawéni, Mayotte.jpg|thumb|upright|House at Kawéni, dubbed the biggest shantytown of France<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nouvelobs.com/galeries-photos/photo/20180514.OBS6595/photos-mayotte-la-vie-miserable-a-kaweni-plus-grand-bidonville-de-france.html|title=PHOTOS. Mayotte : la vie misérable à Kawéni, plus grand bidonville de France|website=Nouvelobs.com|date=16 May 2018|access-date=3 May 2021}}</ref>]]
The politics of Mayotte takes place in a framework of a [[parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[representative democracy|representative democratic]] government and of a [[multi-party system]], whereby the President of the [[Departmental council of Mayotte|Departmental Council]] is the head of the local assembly. [[Executive power]] is exercised by the French government.

Mayotte also sends two [[Member of Parliament|deputies]] to the [[National Assembly of France|French National Assembly]] and two senators to the [[Senate of France|French Senate]]. The deputies represent [[Mayotte's 1st constituency]] and [[Mayotte's 2nd constituency]].

The situation of Mayotte proved to be awkward for France: while a significant majority of the local population did not want to join the Comoros in becoming independent of France, some post-colonial leftist or [[Marxist-Leninist]] governments voiced criticism of Mayotte's ongoing ties to France.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} Furthermore, the peculiar local administration of Mayotte, largely ruled by customary Muslim law, would be difficult to integrate into the legal structures of France, not to mention the costs of bringing the standards of living to levels close to those of [[Metropolitan France]]. For these reasons, the laws passed by the national parliament had to state specifically that they applied to Mayotte.

The status of Mayotte was changed in 2001 towards one very close to the status of the [[departments of France]], with the particular designation of [[departmental collectivity]]. This change was approved by 73% of voters in a [[2000 Mahoran status referendum|referendum]]. After the constitutional reform of 2003 it became an [[overseas collectivity]] while retaining the title "departmental collectivity" of Mayotte.

Mayotte became an [[overseas department]] of France (''département d'outre-mer'', DOM) on 31 March 2011 following the result of the March [[2009 Mahoran status referendum]], which was overwhelmingly approved by around 95% of voters.<ref name="DW">{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14957924,00.html |title=EU shores spread to Indian Ocean island |publisher=Deutsche Welle |first=Elise |last=Cannuel |date=31 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2011/03/31/mayotte-embrouillamini-autour-de-son-accession-au-statut-de-departement_1501415_823448.html |title=Mayotte accède à son statut de département dans la confusion |newspaper=Le Monde}}</ref> Becoming an overseas department will mean it will adopt the same legal and social system as used in the rest of France. This will require abandoning some customary laws, adopting the standard French civil code, and reforming the judiciary, educational, social and fiscal systems, and will take place over a period of about 20 years.<ref name="RFI">{{cite news |url=http://www.rfi.fr/france/20110331-mayotte-devient-le-101eme-departement-francais|title=Mayotte devient le 101ème département français |publisher=Radio France Internationale |first=Marina |last=Mielczarek |date=31 March 2011}}</ref>

Since it became an overseas department in 2011, Mayotte possesses a single local assembly, officially called the "[[Departmental Council of Mayotte|Departmental Council]]" (''conseil départemental''), which acts both as a regional and departmental council, or a [[single territorial collectivity]]. This was a unique arrangement at the time, but French Guiana and Martinique adopted this arrangement in 2015.

Despite its domestic constitutional evolution from the status of an overseas collectivity to that of an overseas department, effectively becoming a full constituent territory within the French Republic, with regards to the European Union, Mayotte remained an 'overseas country and territory' (OCT) in ''association'' with the Union (as per Article 355(2) TFEU) and not a constituent territory of the European Union in the same way as the other four overseas departments. However, following a directive of the [[European Council]] in December 2013, Mayotte became an [[outermost region]] of the European Union on 1 January 2014.<ref name="CD 2013/61/EU">{{cite web | url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:353:0005:0006:EN:PDF | title=Council Directive 2013/61/EU of December 2013 | date=2013-12-17 | access-date=2014-01-01}}</ref> This successful agreement between the 27 member states follows a petition made by the French government for Mayotte to become an integral territory of the European Union nonetheless benefiting from the derogation clause applicable in existing outermost regions, namely Article 349 TFEU, as favoured in a June 2012 European Commission opinion on Mayotte's European constitutional status.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Secretary-General of the European Commission |title=Commission Opinion under Article 355(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on a French Government initiative to amend the status of Mayotte with regard to the European Union |url=https://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/EU/XXIV/EU/08/45/EU_84522/imfname_10032623.pdf |website=parlament.gv.at |publisher=COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION |access-date=13 April 2021}}</ref>

In recent national elections, Mayotte has been a stronghold for the [[right-wing populist]] [[National Rally]] party, and gave its presidential candidate [[Marine Le Pen]] her highest vote percentage in the [[2022 French presidential election]] first round.<ref name="BAMBA 2022">{{cite web | last=BAMBA | first=Nicolas | title=Why Marine Le Pen's far-right political agenda has taken hold in French Mayotte | website=France 24 | date=2022-04-19 | url=https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220419-why-marine-le-pen-s-far-right-political-agenda-has-taken-hold-in-french-mayotte | access-date=2024-04-16}}</ref><ref name="Saunders 2022">{{cite web | last=Saunders | first=Tom | title=Marine Le Pen is winning the French election in a majority Muslim island in the Indian Ocean | website=inews.co.uk | date=2022-04-21 | url=https://inews.co.uk/news/world/marine-le-pen-is-winning-the-french-election-in-a-majority-muslim-heartland-in-the-indian-ocean-1584572 | access-date=2024-04-16}}</ref>