June but not later.
In an interview with Le Figaro, Senate President Gérard Larcher (LR) said he agreed to postpone the departmental and regional elections to June, three months later than the original March calendar, but not after the summer.
"We need to prepare for the eventuality of voting + while living with the virus."
“Even if the respect of dates is preferable in a democracy, I am not opposed to a postponement of the poll to the end of spring for health reasons,” he adds.
However, he underlines having "told the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister" that this must be done "without political ulterior motives": "the time is not for political calculations, but for the peaceful expression of democracy in a complicated health, economic and social universe ”.
"Postponing the ballot after the summer, however, would pose a political and constitutional problem," said the president of the upper chamber.
“So let's be reasonable!
", He asks, calling, by next June," to secure the vote, study the possibility of double proxies, work on postal voting and the material organization of the polls.
Extend the mandate of elected officials
The postponement of departmental and regional elections due to the second wave of coronavirus is probably the least of the French worries.
However, it must be anticipated to avoid repeating the strange episode of the municipal elections, where the first round was accused of having spread the epidemic and where the in-between rounds lasted three months with strong constraints on the campaign, sealed.
This also implies extending the mandate of elected officials in place.
In mid-October, government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced that a commission involving “all political forces” would look into the schedule.
The former president of the Constitutional Council Jean-Louis Debré is due to give Jean Castex his report on the subject on Friday morning.
Gérard Larcher received Jean-Louis Debré in the Senate on October 28.
In March, in our columns, Jean-Louis Debré applauded the maintenance by the President of the Republic of the first round of municipal elections.