Municipal elections in Paris during Le Directoire

The municipal elections in Paris during the Directory, neglected until now perhaps on account of the paucity of sources, are not without interest. To be sure, they attracted only a small minority of citizens, proportionately even fewer than at the beginning of the Revolution, although they were some times bitterly contested, especially in Year VI. This minority seems to hav e dwindled even further from one year to the next, probably as a result of the often massive purges which followed each of these polls, apart from the first, the poll of Year VI. Once they became systematic, people may well h ave lost interest in the principle of voting altogether.