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Furore about the French election: Prime Minister flies 850 kilometers to the ballot box - "I followed the rules"

2022-04-13T08:25:27.191Z


Furore about the French election: Prime Minister flies 850 kilometers to the ballot box - "I followed the rules" Created: 04/13/2022, 10:12 am By: Felix Durach France's Prime Minister Castex flew almost 850 kilometers on election day to cast his vote. He dismissed criticism of his behavior as "polemics". Paris - The presidential election in France this year could develop into a neck-and-neck r


Furore about the French election: Prime Minister flies 850 kilometers to the ballot box - "I followed the rules"

Created: 04/13/2022, 10:12 am

By: Felix Durach

France's Prime Minister Castex flew almost 850 kilometers on election day to cast his vote.

He dismissed criticism of his behavior as "polemics".

Paris - The presidential election in France this year could develop into a neck-and-neck race.

In the first ballot on Sunday, incumbent Emmanuel Macron received the most votes and won 27.8 percent in the runoff election, which will take place on April 24.

There, like five years ago, the president will face Marine Le Pen from the right-wing populist Rassemblement National party.

However, Le Pen received more votes in the first year than five years ago, which is why experts assess the initial situation as more open than in 2017.

In addition to Le Pen's result, it was Prime Minister Jean Castex that caused a stir.

France election: Prime Minister flies more than 850 kilometers to the ballot box - "I followed the rules"

The 56-year-old traveled from Paris to Perpignan, almost 850 kilometers away near the border with Spain, on Sunday to cast his vote in the presidential election in his home town of Prades.

Castex traveled back to Paris shortly after casting his vote.

For both trips he used the government plane.

In the past, the 56-year-old had repeatedly come under criticism because he had traveled to appointments within France with the government plane and not with the more environmentally friendly TGV train.

A long way to the ballot box: French Prime Minister Jean Castex casts his vote for the presidential election in his home town of Prades.

© RAYMOND ROIG/AFP

On Tuesday (April 12) Prime Minister Castex dismissed criticism of his trip.

"I followed the rules that apply to a prime minister," Castex told RTL.

"I took the government plane.

The prime minister has to be in Paris as quickly as possible if there is even the slightest problem,” the 56-year-old explained the choice of his means of transport and dismissed the criticism as polemics.

There is no postal voting in France.

However, persons entitled to vote can have previously registered persons of trust vote for them.

Criticism of Prime Minister Castex after 850-kilometer flight: climate crisis worsened "for a few photos".

The environmental journalist Loup Espargilière calculated that Castex had caused the emission of 4460 kilograms of carbon dioxide, which corresponds to the average emission of a Frenchman within half a year.

"They may have played by the rules.

But we want you to change these rules and not make the climate crisis worse for a few photos," Espargilière wrote on Twitter on Tuesday

.

(fd with AFP)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-13

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