Minister of the Interior in March 1945 claimed that the number executed was 105,000. Elections of May 1945 The French municipal elections of 1945 were held in two rounds on 29 April and 13 May 1945. These were the first elections since the liberation of France and the first in which women could vote. Elections did not take place in four departments (Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle and Territory of Belfort) with recent fighting that had . In Moselle, they were postponed to 23 and 30 September, at the same time as the cantonal elections, because the end of the fighting was too These difficulties made it very difficult to compile electoral lists that included women, and there were very few by-elections before these historic dates. Election context While the war was not yet officially over (the German surrender of May 8, 1945 was signed between the two rounds of voting), the elections took place in a difficult political and social context: the economic situation remained very precarious, not all prisoners of war had returned, and many scores were being settled in local political life. (See section Justice and retribution below.) These elections were the first test for the validity of the provisional institutions that had emerged from the Resistance. The electoral system in force was the two-round majority system, except in Paris, where elections were held under the proportional system. This election was also marked by the participation of women for the first time in France. On April 21, 1944, the right to vote had been granted to women by the French Committee of National Liberation, and confirmed by the ordinance of October 5 under the Provisional Government of the French Republic. Given the absence of 2 1/2 million prisoners of war, deportees, STO workers, and the ban on voting by career soldiers, the electorate in this election was composed of up to 62% women (although the figure of 53% is also cited). Despite the novelty of women voters, there was no particular media reaction, partly because of the difficulties related to the immediate post-war period which were of greater concern, such as returned deportees, prisoner camps, food rationing, and so on. The referendum proposed to the French by the Provisional Government (GPRF) contained two questions. The first one proposed the drafting of a new Constitution and, consequently, the abandonment of the institutions of the Third Republic. Charles de Gaulle advocated