Paris (AFP)
The boss of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau deposited Friday a proposal of law aiming at prohibiting the "communitarian lists" with the elections, one learned in his entourage.
Presented to four and a half months of municipal, this bill "tending to ensure respect for the values of the Republic in the face of communal threats" had been announced a few weeks ago by Mr. Retailleau, to be received next week by the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner.
The text aims in particular to prevent the filing of lists or the financing of candidates leading a "communitarian campaign" and supporting claims "based on ethnic origin or religious affiliation", according to the explanatory memorandum.
Concretely the electoral material will have to ban any communitarian demand, and the prefect will be able "to proceed to the withdrawal of the posters" contravening this principle, specifies the bill of law. The elected will also have "obligation to respect the values of the Republic".
This text, filed before the "march against Islamophobia" Sunday that divides the left, comes as the flammable themes of the veil and secularism will return to the forefront.
Mr. Retailleau is to be received next week by Mr. Castaner to talk about communitarianism, along with the president of the Hauts-de-France region (formerly LR) Xavier Bertrand, who also called for the ban of lists of this type.
"If the Muslim religion naturally has its place in our country, Islamic fundamentalism can not in any case find its own in our political life," explains the explanatory statement.
The text is concerned about "the rise of radical Islam", an "openly secessionist" project aimed in particular at "isolating Muslims from the rest of the national community and substituting religious laws for the laws of the Republic".
In an interview with Figaro on Friday, Mr. Retailleau called on the head of state to "get out of the ambiguity", saying that "it is better to prevent than cure because when we have elected communitarian lists, it will be too late ".
Objects of all worries, communitarian lists remain in France a marginal phenomenon according to experts, who point out that no one claims this term. Often called into question, the Union of French Muslim Democrats (UDMF) refutes this classification. The party created in 2012 has collected less than 29,000 votes in the European, with however peaks in some municipalities in the Paris region.
© 2019 AFP