Postponement of regional elections: the scientific council returns the ball to the executive

This is a long-awaited report, three days before the

"review clause"

provided for by law to assess the health risks associated with the organization of regional and departmental elections in June.

In its analysis submitted this Tuesday to the executive, the scientific council seems to militate in favor of a postponement of the elections, while leaving it to the executive to decide.

Read also:

Covid-19: is France "the only country in Europe" to postpone its elections?

"If the authorities decide to postpone the elections, the risks of contamination would be appreciably less than during the month of June because of a foreseeable level of vaccination markedly higher"

, write the members of the council, in the document of sixteen pages consulted by

Le Figaro

, assuming that 40 to 45 million French people could be vaccinated at the end of September, against 30 million - if all the deliveries of doses are honored - in mid-June.

"By comparison with previous polls, the risks of contamination are now increased because of the high contagiousness of the British variant"

, we can still read.

Digital campaign

As at the time of municipal elections, the Scientific Council emphasizes the significant risks associated with the organization of an electoral campaign and therefore recommends finding

"a new model"

,

"encouraging the maximum use of resources. dematerialized ”

and to ban gatherings.

Read also:

Regional and departmental elections: everything you need to know before voting in June

Scientists encourage candidates to be vaccinated or, if they are not among the priority audiences, to be screened regularly, and to solicit in priority people vaccinated to hold polling stations.

He also regrets that the digitization of votes and postal voting, a track buried by the executive, have not been put in place for these polls.

Read also:

Does postal voting promote electoral fraud?

In conclusion, the body created a year ago and chaired by Jean-François Delfraissy refers the decision of a new postponement to the executive.

"It is the sole responsibility of the political authorities to proceed in all democratic legitimacy to general assessments, which go beyond the only health aspects, as well as to the necessary arbitrations, which are eminently political when it comes to the organization of elections"

, they indicate. , recalling that the state of the pandemic in June is

"difficult to anticipate"

.

"It will depend on the government's strategy and the effectiveness of the braking measures that will be implemented, and therefore on their appropriation by the population"

, but also

"on the vaccination coverage achieved"

.

The report of the Scientific Council:

Scientific council report - regional published by LeFigaro