Jean-Louis Debré, now a prolific writer, was Minister of the Interior (responsible for organizing the elections), President of the National Assembly, then of the Constitutional Council. Three "caps" which justify Le Parisien seeking his opinion on the unprecedented electoral situation that France is going through.
Was it a good thing to have maintained the municipal elections?
JEAN-LOUIS DEBRÉ . I think that Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe made a wise decision because it does not lend itself to political interpretation. It is a very complex situation. We are not in the place of those who govern, and it must be extremely difficult to predict what will happen. Emmanuel Macron, in this difficult sequence, presented himself as father of the Nation. If he had postponed the elections, there would have been an outcry. I think he did well.
Critics, many on the right but not only, threw a little more confusion on the advisability of maintaining the poll. Do you think the request is legitimate?
Above all, I believe that we are in a moment when everyone must come together, where we must silence the critics in the interest of the country. Moreover, postponing the elections, as requested late Saturday, some regional presidents, would have posed a legal problem.
Which ?
There is a procedure to postpone an election. It is necessary to recall the deputies while the Assembly is struck by the virus, to introduce a bill, to vote it, to summon the Senate, to promulgate… It can take time, and even if the procedure is accelerated, it was already a lot too late as of Friday. Especially since I remind you that gatherings of more than 100 people are prohibited…
Given the abstention, is not this election skewed?
Abstention does not legally invalidate an election, so no. Some mayors will be poorly elected, and therefore challenged politically. But elected, yes, they will be.
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If total containment is decreed in France or in certain agglomerations, what will happen for the rest of the election?
This will be a case of force majeure and a serious legal problem will arise. We are completely new, outside the legal framework. I look at this with concern, but the French are mature enough not to add a political crisis to the health crisis. There is no precedent. But to the impossible, no one is bound.