this second point concerns the legitimacy of the new electoral procedure. in quite a number of countries and municipalities, the post-election negotiations about mayoral coalitions dragged out, and seemed to take more or less unpredictable paths. in quite a few cases, incumbent mayors retained their positions, even if their party as well as they themselves clearly had emerged from the elections as losses. some (strange bedfellows) cases also emerged. the impression- and here i only have to rely on yet unsystematic evidence- is that all this generated quite a lot of negative attention, and an increased legitimacy for a demand that voters should have a chance to select their mayor in direct elections and not wait for totally unpredictable outcomes of post-election party bargaining