In Les Essards, turnout beat 89% of compared French communes
Irène Forait-Etheve has been mayor of Les Essards since March 22, 2026, elected by the 11 members of the municipal council. A single list stood in March 2026, UNIS POUR LES ESSARDS, and took all 11 seats. Les Essards is part of the Communauté de communes Lavalette Tude Dronne.
March 2032
Councils are elected for six years; the council elects the mayor.
Register to vote ↗Throughout this page, the median in Charente and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median. Les Essards has 175 residents; every compared commune has 2,507 or more, so read its place among them with that in mind.
What stands out about Les Essards’s town hall
A single list
Only one list stood in Les Essards on March 15, 2026: UNIS POUR LES ESSARDS. It took all 11 seats; with no rival list, voters could only vote for it, cast a blank ballot or stay at home. 2026 elections ↓
Turnout above most communes
66.4% of registered voters in Les Essards voted on March 15, 2026: higher than in 89% of compared French communes. The median of compared communes in Charente was 52.5%; across France, 57.4%. 2026 elections ↓
Less debt per resident than most
Les Essards owed €102K at the end of 2025, €553 per resident: lower than in 67% of compared French communes (France median €748). That equals 68% of a year’s running costs. The commune’s money ↓
Results as the Interior ministry published them; accounts from the DGFiP via OFGL. Nothing here is graded.
The council the voters chose
Seats as the March 2026 results gave them, one dot a seat.
- UNIS POUR LES ESSARDS11
As elected in the first round, March 15, 2026.
The list that comes first gets half the seats; the rest are shared in proportion among the lists with 5% or more, the winner included. So the winning list always has a majority.
Source: Interior ministry, 2026 municipal election results (March 15 and 22), subject to corrections and appeals.
4 authorities share the work
The commune is the tier closest to residents; the intercommunality, the département and the région do the rest.
Births, marriages and deaths, the electoral roll, nursery and primary schools, local roads, planning permission, the municipal police, and what else the council takes on.
Mayor: Irène Forait-Etheve · 11 councilors
The services its communes share: usually waste collection, economic development and planning documents; often water and local buses.
Social aid (RSA, care for older and disabled people, child protection), collèges, the département’s roads, and funding for fire and rescue.
Lycées, regional trains (TER) and coaches, economic development and job training.
Who to ask
The usual split of powers (service-public.fr); an intercommunality’s exact remit varies, so check its website for waste, water and buses.
Membership: COG 2026 (INSEE); intercommunality type: BANATIC, January 2025. What each tier does: service-public.fr.
From the mayor to the intercommunality
The officials as the Interior ministry’s register lists them, and the council by list.
- 1Mayorsince March 22, 2026Irène Forait-Etheve
- 2Deputy mayors3 adjoints, elected by the councilJoël LabrousseFlorence LaffontGérald Guerin
- 3Les Essards municipal council11 seats by listUNIS POUR LES ESSARDS 11
Source: Interior ministry, national register of elected officials (RNE), August 11, 2026.
The 11 members of the Les Essards municipal council
The mayor and 3 deputy mayors first, then the councilors.
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Irène Forait-Etheve | Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Joël Labrousse | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Florence Laffont | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Gérald Guerin | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
Show the full council (11)
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Irène Forait-Etheve | Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Joël Labrousse | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Florence Laffont | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Gérald Guerin | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 22, 2026 |
| Joël Berthelomet | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Christian Bompart-Patchine | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Pauline Doussaint | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Jean-Michel Droillard | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Laetitia Gargot | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Liliane Gatineau | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
| Bernadette Maziere | Conseiller municipal | March 15, 2026 |
Names and offices as the Interior ministry’s national register of elected officials (RNE) published them on August 11, 2026, written as it writes them. Public role only. Later resignations and replacements aren’t shown.
The council: same source as Who represents Les Essards, above.
How Les Essards voted in March 2026
A single list stood.
73 votes cast for a list
81 of 122 registered voters in Les Essards voted.
1 blank and 7 spoilt ballots, not counted in the shares.
Turnout, first round · March 15, 2026
Shares are of the votes cast for a list, leaving out blank and spoilt ballots. Lists in vote order; the colors only tell the lists apart.
2026 elections: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Les Essards spends €1,319 per resident a year
The commune’s consolidated accounts: main and annexed budgets, transfers between them removed.
Per resident, 2025 · against compared communes
Spending and debt per resident, 2018 to 2025
Les Essards owed €102K at the end of 2025, €553 per resident, lower than in 67% of compared French communes, equal to 68% of a year’s running costs.
Show year by year
| Year | Spending | Investment | Debt | Debt in all |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | €1,319 | €508 | €553 | €102K |
| 2024 | €746 | €81 | €535 | €101K |
| 2023 | €799 | €147 | €130 | €25K |
| 2022 | €952 | €371 | €230 | €44K |
| 2021 | €608 | €119 | €109 | €21K |
| 2020 | €597 | €91 | €223 | €45K |
| 2019 | €549 | €81 | €330 | €66K |
| 2018 | €673 | €176 | €437 | €87K |
Source: OFGL, consolidated commune accounts 2018–2025 (DGFiP); 2025 provisional.
The 20th lowest debt per resident of 41 communes its size
The 40 compared communes nearest in population, debt per resident at the end of 2025.
Lowest: Watten, €1. Highest: Mers-les-Bains, €3,228.
Have a say in Les Essards
French citizens register online or at the town hall; citizens of other EU countries can vote in municipal elections too.
service-public.fr ↗See where you’re registered and which polling station is yours.
service-public.fr ↗Council meetings are public; the agenda and minutes are posted at the town hall and usually on its website.
service-public.fr ↗Opening hours, address and phone number of the mairie of Les Essards in the public services directory.
lannuaire.service-public.fr ↗Who can stand, how lists are formed and the deadlines, from the Interior ministry.
interieur.gouv.fr ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Mayors and councilors. From the Interior ministry’s national register of elected officials (RNE) as published on August 11, 2026: name, office and start dates, nothing else. The register counts a mayor as a councilor too; the page counts each person once. It isn’t a live roll: resignations and replacements after that date aren’t shown, and no party is inferred for any official.
- How the council is elected. Since March 2026 every commune elects its council from lists (a 2025 law extended list voting to communes under 1,000). A list with more than half the votes in the first round wins; otherwise lists with 10% or more can go on to a second round, where the list ahead wins. It gets half the seats, and the rest are shared in proportion among lists with 5% or more. The council then elects the mayor and the deputy mayors.
- The label beside a list. The political nuance the prefecture gave the list for the ministry’s results (Divers droite, Union de la gauche…), shown as published. It isn’t the list’s own description; many lists, most in small communes, have none.
- The commune’s money. OFGL’s consolidated accounts from the DGFiP, 2018 to 2025; 2025 is provisional. Spending and investment leave out loan repayments; running costs are part of spending. Debt is what was owed at the end of the year.
- Per resident. Divided by the DGFiP’s population for that year (population totale, which counts some people, such as boarding students, in two communes), so it can differ from the census figure elsewhere on the site.
- The medians. Beside the town’s figure, the median of compared communes in its département and in France (those with an overall grade). A commune’s spending follows its size and its role: one that runs a pool or a theater for the villages around it spends more per resident.
Questions about Les Essards’s town hall
Who is the mayor of Les Essards?
Irène Forait-Etheve, mayor since March 22, 2026, according to the Interior ministry’s register of elected officials (August 11, 2026).
How many councilors does Les Essards have?
The Les Essards municipal council has 11 members, the mayor and 3 deputy mayors included.
Who won the 2026 municipal elections in Les Essards?
Only one list stood: UNIS POUR LES ESSARDS, which took all 11 seats.
What was the turnout in Les Essards?
66.4% of registered voters voted in the first round on March 15, 2026; the median of compared French communes was 57.4%.
When are the next municipal elections in Les Essards?
Councils are elected for six years, so the next general municipal elections are due in March 2032. A council can be re-elected sooner if it loses too many members.
How much debt does Les Essards have?
€102K at the end of 2025, €553 per resident; the median of compared French communes was €748.
Which intercommunality is Les Essards part of?
Les Essards is part of the Communauté de communes Lavalette Tude Dronne, which runs the services its communes share.
Sources: Interior ministry RNE, August 11, 2026 · Interior ministry, municipal results 2026 · OFGL consolidated commune accounts 2018–2025 · INSEE COG 2026 and BANATIC (January 2025) for the intercommunality. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.