Challans invested more per resident in 2025 than 82% of compared communes
Alexandre Huvet has been mayor of Challans since March 28, 2026, elected by the 34 members of the municipal council. At the March 2026 municipal elections, Challans en Grand won 26 of the 35 seats in the second round on March 22, 2026, with 45.3% of the votes. Challans is part of the Communauté de communes Challans-Gois Communauté.
March 2032
Councils are elected for six years; the council elects the mayor.
Register to vote ↗Throughout this page, the median in Vendée and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
What stands out about Challans’s town hall
Decided in a second round
No list won half the votes in the first round, when 4 lists stood. In the second round on March 22, 2026, Challans en Grand came first with 45.3% and took 26 of the 35 seats; the other lists share the remaining 9. Who’s in charge ↓
Turnout above most communes
60.6% of registered voters in Challans voted on March 15, 2026: higher than in 65% of compared French communes. The median of compared communes in Vendée was 60.8%; across France, 57.4%. 2026 elections ↓
More debt per resident than most
Challans owed €25.1M at the end of 2025, €1,063 per resident: higher than in 72% of compared French communes (France median €748). That equals 115% of a year’s running costs. The commune’s money ↓
A big year for investment
Challans invested €699 per resident (buildings, roads, equipment), 43% of its spending: higher than in 82% of compared French communes (France median €403). Investment swings from year to year with projects. 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.
- Challans en Grand2615 community seats
- CHALLANS, VOTRE AVENIR, NOTRE ÉLAN63 community seats
- RASSEMBLEMENT POUR CHALLANS32 community seats
As elected in the second round, March 22, 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. The same vote gave Challans 20 seats on the council of the Communauté de communes Challans-Gois Communauté (community seats).
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: Alexandre Huvet · 34 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 28, 2026Alexandre Huvet
- 2Deputy mayors10 adjoints, elected by the councilSébastien Le LannicFrancette GirardStéphane ViolleauMathilde ChristopheCharles CharrierPriscillia CharronSimon RemaudCatherine Roux+2 more
- 3Challans municipal council35 seats by listChallans en Grand 26 · CHALLANS, VOTRE AVENIR, NOTRE ÉLAN 6 · RASSEMBLEMENT POUR CHALLANS 3
- 4Communauté de communes Challans-Gois CommunautéChallans holds 20 seatsCommunity councilors are drawn from the council lists in the same vote.
Source: Interior ministry, national register of elected officials (RNE), August 11, 2026.
The 34 members of the Challans municipal council
The mayor and 10 deputy mayors first, then the councilors.
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandre Huvet | Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Sébastien Le Lannic | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Francette Girard | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Stéphane Violleau | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Mathilde Christophe | 4ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Charles Charrier | 5ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Priscillia Charron | 6ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Simon Remaud | 7ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Catherine Roux | 8ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Eric Latté | 9ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Valérie Clément | 10ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
Show the full council (34)
| Name | Office | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandre Huvet | Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Sébastien Le Lannic | 1er adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Francette Girard | 2ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Stéphane Violleau | 3ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Mathilde Christophe | 4ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Charles Charrier | 5ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Priscillia Charron | 6ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Simon Remaud | 7ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Catherine Roux | 8ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Eric Latté | 9ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Valérie Clément | 10ème adjoint au Maire | March 28, 2026 |
| Marie-Amélie Annereau | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Delphine Aquilo | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Thierry Boulanger | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jean-Michel Cancan | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Pierre Colin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Amélie Devaux | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Christèle Didierjean | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Guillaume Duhail | Conseiller municipal | April 15, 2026 |
| Roselyne Durand Flaire | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Florence Fernandez-Lopez | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jérôme Foulquier | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Sandrine Fraudeau | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Patrick Guilbaud | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Montaine Hemet | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Dominique Joubert | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Pascale Labbé | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Erwann Lebeau | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Marie-Noëlle Mandin | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Edith Neau | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Jérôme Proux | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Marielle Renaud Boucher | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Christophe Rousseau | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 2026 |
| Benjamin Senard | Conseiller municipal | March 22, 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 Challans, above.
How Challans voted in March 2026
4 lists stood in the first round; none won half the votes, so a second round followed.
11,130 votes cast for a list
11,402 of 18,841 registered voters in Challans voted.
125 blank and 147 spoilt ballots, not counted in the shares.
11,217 votes cast for a list · no seats given out: a second round followed
11,415 of 18,836 registered voters in Challans voted.
91 blank and 107 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.
Challans spends €1,622 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
Challans owed €25.1M at the end of 2025, €1,063 per resident, higher than in 72% of compared French communes, equal to 115% of a year’s running costs.
Show year by year
| Year | Spending | Investment | Debt | Debt in all |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | €1,622 | €699 | €1,063 | €25.1M |
| 2024 | €1,606 | €685 | €1,090 | €25.4M |
| 2023 | €1,521 | €524 | €1,104 | €25.1M |
| 2022 | €1,413 | €513 | €1,181 | €26.1M |
| 2021 | €1,392 | €555 | €1,168 | €25.3M |
| 2020 | €1,366 | €541 | €1,501 | €32M |
| 2019 | €1,648 | €813 | €1,668 | €35.1M |
| 2018 | €1,326 | €489 | €1,531 | €31.8M |
Source: OFGL, consolidated commune accounts 2018–2025 (DGFiP); 2025 provisional.
The 18th highest debt per resident of 41 communes its size
The 40 compared communes nearest in population, debt per resident at the end of 2025.
Lowest: Maisons-Laffitte, €74. Highest: Dax, €1,974.
Have a say in Challans
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 Challans 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 Challans’s town hall
Who is the mayor of Challans?
Alexandre Huvet, mayor since March 28, 2026, according to the Interior ministry’s register of elected officials (August 11, 2026).
How many councilors does Challans have?
The Challans municipal council has 34 members, the mayor and 10 deputy mayors included.
Who won the 2026 municipal elections in Challans?
Challans en Grand, in the second round on March 22, 2026, with 45.3% of the votes; it holds 26 of the 35 seats.
What was the turnout in Challans?
60.6% 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 Challans?
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 Challans have?
€25.1M at the end of 2025, €1,063 per resident; the median of compared French communes was €748.
Which intercommunality is Challans part of?
Challans is part of the Communauté de communes Challans-Gois Communauté, 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.