Christian Jacob, October 27, 2020 in Paris.

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Ludovic MARIN / AFP

  • The regional and departmental elections, initially scheduled for March, could finally be held before the summer.

  • In the wake of the recommendations of the Scientific Council, the government confirmed last week that it favored "at this stage" the maintenance of the poll on June 13 and 20.

  • The oppositions sent their recommendations to the Prime Minister in order to be able to maintain the elections despite the coronavirus epidemic.

Will the ballot be maintained despite the coronavirus epidemic?

Initially scheduled for March, regional and departmental elections could finally be held before the summer.

In the wake of the recommendations of the Scientific Council, the government confirmed last week that it favored "at this stage" the maintenance of the elections on June 13 and 20.

The executive asked the different parties to give their opinion on this issue before last Thursday evening, ahead of debates scheduled in the National Assembly and the Senate, on April 13 and 14.

20 Minutes

returns to the wishes of the opposition to maintain these elections.

Secure the vote: vaccination, outdoor office, poll over several days

This is the priority for all parties: securing the vote to allow as many French people as possible to go to the polls.

The oppositions demand the establishment of "a health protocol adapted" to the health situation, in order to avoid massive abstention from the last municipal elections.

Several parties, including Les Républicains, take up recommendations from the Scientific Council, such as "the obligation to vaccinate or to have a negative test" for members of the polling stations, or the creation of "a specific queue For vulnerable people.

The rebellious France is asking for "the provision at the entrance of each polling station of free FFP2 masks and the installation of air purifiers or ventilation systems in each polling station".

The Socialist Party wishes for its part "to hold polling stations outside, provided they are closed and covered", and

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a greater time range" in order to space the votes, or even "a vote over three days" .

At the National Rally, Marine Le Pen hopes "major information campaigns on proxies, so that people who are fragile or worried about going to vote can do so."

Facilitate the candidates' campaign… with open-air meetings?

While the ballot could be held within two months, the progress of the campaign questions at a time when France lives under the restrictive measures.

In this regard, environmentalists denounce "the manifest inequity of the means of campaigning between the outgoing elected representatives, [who] may have a derogatory certificate", and therefore move, and the other candidates.

They ask, like most parties, that all the members of a list can move on the electoral ground concerned.

EELV also considers it “useful” to allow candidates access to self-tests, in order to protect the people encountered during the campaign.

If the indoor meetings do not seem able to be held in the coming weeks, the rebels hope to be able to "organize outdoor gatherings in compliance with the rules of social distancing".

This is also the case for LR officials, who believe that these meetings could be held "under the same rules as associations, which can hold face-to-face general meetings".

Maximize voter awareness

All the parties also evoke the need to amplify communication around the regions, in order to sensitize the voters.

"The opportunities for meetings being reduced, public meetings prohibited, it appears necessary to allow our fellow citizens to have sufficient information to speak out," said the PS.

Socialists want candidates to be able to send professions of faith longer than usual.

With LR, they are also calling for "the mobilization of public audiovisual resources", so that candidates can advertise their proposals, in particular on regional channels.

As such, the rebels, like the ecologists, call for the organization "in each region of three debates between all the heads of the list on the public service of the audio-visual one", and the same thing for the departmental ones.

The government is expected to vote on all of these recommendations during the discussions scheduled for Parliament next week.

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  • Coronavirus

  • France rebellious

  • The Republicans (France)

  • Regional elections