François Bayrou, president of the MoDem, ally of the presidential majority, pleaded Thursday, October 22 for a postponement of the regional and departmental elections scheduled for March in view of "
the exponential worsening of the epidemic
" of Covid-19.
Read also: No consensus for postponing regional elections
He ruled on BFMTV and RMC that the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand was "
right
" to say Wednesday that he wanted a postponement.
"
I do not see, in the current circumstances of worsening of the epidemic, and even of exponential worsening of the epidemic, that we are going to campaign and vote, especially as the end of the mandate of the general councilors , it's December 2021,
”he noted.
"
We said we are going to shorten their terms of office by nine months, but in reality we don't need that, if there is no legal obstacle to taking a precautionary principle and saying that in such circumstances we will not start over
”as in the spring.
A possible postponement
During the spring 2020 municipal elections, the first round had been maintained in mid-March, two days before the entry into force of the confinement to try to curb the Covid-19 epidemic, then the second round had been postponed to the at the end of June, a month and a half after being released from confinement.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday that "
the government wants these elections to be held
."
Jean Castex however confided Wednesday to Jean-Louis Debré, former president of the Constitutional Council, the mission to reflect on a possible postponement with a "
legal and practical analysis of the situation
" and a consultation of "
all the stakeholders
".
The final decision must be made before the start of the official campaign, i.e. late 2020-early 2021.
