The Constitutional Council validated the postponement to June 28 of the second round of municipal elections. Originally scheduled for March 22, a week after the first round, the ballot had been postponed because of the Covid-19 epidemic.
According to the Constitutional Council, the arrangements were justified by "an overriding reason in the general interest". It had been seized with a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) contesting this postponement, but considered that "if the contested provisions call into question the unity of the electoral operations, they allow, contrary to a cancellation of the first round, to preserve the expression of suffrage during it ”. The Council however wished to supervise “the modifications of the course of electoral operations”.
An “excessive” delay between the two rounds for the authors of the appeal
The disputed provisions are contained in the health emergency law of 23 March, which set the conditions for the postponement. The authors of the appeal challenged, in particular, an "excessive" delay between the two rounds, which risked harming participation and which, according to them, undermined the fairness of the ballot. At the end of the first round, on March 15, the second round had been postponed "at the latest in June", provided that the sanitary situation allowed the organization of the ballot. The election of municipal councilors elected in the first round remains a fact.
"The maximum time thus fixed for holding the second round was, when adopted, adapted to the seriousness of the health situation and to the uncertainty surrounding the development of the epidemic", notes on the contrary the Constitutional Council. "The disputed provisions do not by themselves favor abstention," he also points out. By specifying that it will be up to the election judge, if applicable, "to assess whether the level of abstention may or may not have affected the fairness of the ballot in the circumstances".
For all of these reasons, the Council “judges that the postponement of the second round of municipal elections no later than June 2020 does not violate either the right to vote, the principle of fairness in the ballot, or that of equality before the vote ".
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- QPC
- Coronavirus
- Covid 19
- Constitutional Council
- Elections
- Municipal