It was his first outing in three weeks and the closure of most places to live. This Sunday afternoon, Jean-Claude, 93 years old, resident of Crépy-en-Valois (Oise), came to perform his civic duty. Mask on the face, this inveterate bridge player no longer sees his friends three times a week, as usual. But there ... No question of yielding.
"I always voted, I was not going to stop! Don't be afraid, ”said the nonagenarian, in the arms of his daughter, who did not even try to dissuade him from presenting his voter card. In this city of 15,300 inhabitants marked by the death of the first French victim of the coronavirus, a teacher at the Jean-de-la-Fontaine college at the end of February, we are trying to make a difference.
“The municipal elections are important, they are elected officials that we will see on a daily basis, underlines a Crépynois. We respect the instructions given. Each of us took our pen and we chose a time slot where there are fewer people. A friend adds: "It's less worse here than elsewhere, we've been confined for two weeks already!" We do a little too much in our city. "
"We expected worse"
Despite these speeches full of enthusiasm, many voters did not go to the polls in Crépy where the electoral campaign was truncated, with three candidates confined to their homes…
A symbol marked Julie ( the first name has been changed ), an employee of the town hall and involved in the elections since 2006. "The person who is usually there before the opening, to be the first to vote, did not come", she breathes. "With the news that fell on Saturday evening, it could not be otherwise ..." deplores Pierre-Marie Jumeaucourt (DVG), one of the eight top names. It was not the right message for the elections to go well ... "" For the first time in my life, my father and I will not go to vote, sorrow Caroline, a florist still open this Sunday morning. They're closing my business, so I'm not going to vote! "
"We expected worse," says under his mask Pascal Fayolle, first assistant to the outgoing mayor, candidate for his own succession. "I left fortnight this Saturday, we had to mobilize to have enough assessors for the 12 offices," said the elected official. The mayor (SE), Bruno Fortier, positive for Covid-19, had to give a proxy. There were 147 this year, far more than in previous elections.