The vote was played with a small voice.
The deputies adopted this Wednesday evening article 2 of the bill on health vigilance ... by 74 votes to 73, avoiding a resounding clack by the majority.
Much discussed, this article allows the executive to extend the health pass until July 31, 2022 if the health situation warrants it.
Health vigilance: the deputies adopt article 2 of the text (74 for, 73 against).
> This article opens the possibility, if the health situation so requires, to extend the #PasseSanitaire until July 31, 2022. # DirectAN pic.twitter.com/9TJXzlxdC8
- LCP (@LCP) October 20, 2021
The ric-rac adoption of the text reflects the heated debates that preceded it. Elected officials from both the right and the left criticize in particular the plan to maintain the transitional regime for exiting the state of health emergency. They evoke a "blank check", in a "state of exception" which becomes "the norm". "It's the health pass for life", criticized the RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, while the communist Karine Lebon denounced a "denial of democracy" and the rebellious Mathilde Panot of decisions taken at will " orders and counter-orders from Jupiter ”.
LREM defended itself, presenting the bill as a "toolbox" whose only alternative would be the closure of establishments or the return to confinement, while Olivier Véran warned against an epidemic that is not "finished". But that was not enough to guarantee a clear majority. The fault in particular to a problem of mobilization in the hemicycle of LREM deputies, pointed out Tuesday morning in a group meeting by Christophe Castaner, leader of the "walkers".
“Except for one voice, the marchers who do not walk as surely as yesterday have almost come up against the wall of protest against the opposition,” thundered the Communist Sébastien Jumel.
Later that evening, the entire bill was finally passed with a slightly stronger majority, 135 in favor and 125 against.
The text will land in the Senate on October 28.