France: postponement of regional elections, the Scientific Council returns the ball to the executive
Departmental and regional elections are expected to take place in less than three months.
The government was waiting for the opinion of the Scientific Council to rule while the opposition is keen to organize the ballot.
The members of the Scientific Council ultimately leave to the executive the decision whether or not to postpone the regional (illustrative image).
REUTERS / Pascal Rossignol
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The peak in intensive care reached during the second wave of Covid-19 has been exceeded in France.
Will the next elections be held or not?
Departmental and regional elections are expected to take place in less than three months.
The government was waiting for the opinion of the Scientific Council to rule while the opposition is keen to organize the ballot.
The report fell and the scientists decided not to take a decision, sending the decision back to Emmanuel Macron.
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They did not want to be the scapegoats, the members of the Scientific Council therefore leave to the executive the decision to
postpone the regional or not
.
A decision "
eminently political
", write doctors and researchers, perhaps still upset by the choice of Emmanuel Macron not to reconfine the country, despite their calls.
The Head of State will have to be content with a few recommendations from the Scientific Council: solicit vaccinated people to hold polling stations, favor outdoor voting or encourage proxy voting.
More than the ballot, it is the campaign that worries the Scientific Council with the threat of clusters in the event of gatherings.
Suspected of electoral tampering, of seeking to avoid a rout, the executive hoped to rely on this report, to make it its "compass" before any decision.
Here he is solely responsible for the holding or not of regional.
The government must decide quickly and under pressure from the opposition.
He will present his decision by April 1 to Parliament.
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To read: Covid-19: France facing a critical health situation
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