Voting under Napoleon. An autopsy of electoral practice during the First Empire, based on a prefectoral enquiry into the cantonal elections held in the summer of 1813

Elections were certainly held under Napoleon, using a two-tier electoral system previously employed during the Revolution, which was now applied in the departments recently annexed to France as well as those of the interior. A quasi-universal male suffrage operated in the cantonal, or primary, assemblies, but its role was restricted to the presentation of candidates, with the final choice resting in the hands of the government. Usually written off as a farce, these elections actually played an important part in the political and social functioning of the regime, whilst also serving to extend the electoral experience of the Revolution. However, the way these elections were run is poorly understood and we know little about the attitudes of voters and administrators towards them. A prefectoral enquiry, ordered by the minister of the Interior in 1813, offers some valuable insight into the behaviour of those who participated and the response of those who organised the polls. This unique survey suggests that the contradictions inherent in the system consigned the experiment to defeat, though not without influencing both voting practice and the Bonapartist legacy in France.