A second round of municipal elections which will be unlike any other. Friday, May 22, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that the vote would take place on June 28 in the 4,922 municipalities that have not yet designated their councilors, except for a dramatic change in health with a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic. The Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, explains to us how he envisages this very particular ballot, for which he will bring together on Wednesday May 27 associations of elected officials and political parties.
You have decided that the second round of municipal elections will take place on June 28. Is this not a risk, even a "mistake", as the mayor of Saint-Louis (Haut-Rhin), Jean-Marie Zoellé, who died since Covid-19, said about the first round?
CHRISTOPHE CASTANER. The decision we have made is not to put democracy on hold. We relied on the advice of the scientific council and all of the political parties. It is a firm decision, but reversible depending on the health situation, like all the decisions we take in the context of deconfinement.
Complaints have been filed for the holding of the first round. Don't you fear a spike in legal proceedings?
Decisions are made and are built on objective and sanitary elements. If complaints are lodged, justice will obviously have to answer them. But to fear would be to prevent action.
Do you not fear a massive abstention and that it would distort the sincerity of the ballot?
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Of course, we must fight abstention, as in any election! In the first round of the municipal elections, there was almost 55% of abstention, it is enormous for a municipal election, even if it is comparable to the second round of the legislative elections of 2017. However, the time of the campaign an in-between-round of municipal elections is usually 3 days. There, it will be a profoundly different campaign, which will last almost a month. We will prepare it with the associations of elected officials and the political parties that I will receive next Wednesday.
How to favor the use of powers of attorney?
We will work with associations of elected officials. One avenue would be to increase the number of people empowered to establish powers of attorney, who would then act as delegates of a judicial police officer. For example, we could appoint the directors of nursing homes (Editor's note: establishments for the accommodation of dependent elderly people) so that they prepare powers of attorney in their establishments. Then, the police or gendarme would come, check and collect all the requests from the people accommodated.
Could we allow more than one power of attorney per person?
This is a path that the government is ready to study. Our will is to be as open as possible on all that will allow, within the applicable legal framework, to widen the possibility of voting, while guaranteeing the legal feasibility and the sincerity of the ballot.
Do you exclude the use of electronic voting?
First, there is no legal basis today. Second, electronic voting only works if one is able to justify a secure digital identity solution that allows authentication at a high level. This is not the case today. Our goal is to have a secure digital identity solution before the end of the five-year term. Therefore, we can consider electronic voting, even if the act of moving to a polling station should not be neglected.
Can we vote by mail?
The postal vote was abolished in France in 1975 and replaced by the proxy because it was the result of too many frauds.
Bavaria recently implemented it…
I'm ready to study everything, but I'm not sure that this will fundamentally change in the coming weeks the level of participation.
You indicated that voters will be masked. Will the government provide the masks?
Yes, it is a commitment that we make alongside the municipalities to ensure that each voter who does not have one can be equipped in each polling station.
Will polling station hours be extended to reduce influence?
In major cities, polling stations are already open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The option to extend these hours, and even beyond, throughout the national territory, can be worked on. I am open to everything, including the creation of other polling stations in the municipalities to reduce the average size of each if the mayors wish.
Will public meetings be allowed during the campaign?
We will discuss it with associations of elected officials and political parties, but if they deem it essential and undertake to respect a strict organization to respect, in particular, physical distancing measures, we can imagine that this will be possible. Let us reason by analogy: we published a decree on Saturday morning authorizing the reopening of places of worship for religious gatherings.
Will leaflets be possible?
We do not wish to prohibit any communication medium, but health rules must be observed.
Are you going to change the campaign expense reimbursement rules?
The official campaign will start on June 15, but everything that has been started, including since the first round and until today, will have to be integrated into the campaign account. We will increase by decree by 20% the ceiling for reimbursement of expenses. This will take into account, for example, the rental of a local campaign maintained beyond what was originally planned and until the second round.
Will the Senate elections be postponed for a year?
No. With this calendar of June 28, it will not be necessary to adopt an organic bill on the postponement of senators. They can therefore be held next September.