Polling stations closed Sunday morning in Marseille for lack of assessors, missing ballots near Maubeuge (North) ... The first round of regional and departmental elections was marked by several failures this Sunday.

In Marseille, voters from 34 offices found the door closed at 8 a.m. according to the prefecture.

A dozen offices could not open until 11 am, according to the town hall.

A voter of the 11th arrondissement, Béatrice Reinische, told AFP of her dismay.

“At 9 am, in my neighborhood of Valentine, there was a crowd in front of the office, the security guard told us that it was closed, that we had to leave, without further information”.

"My 18-year-old son voted for the first time, but he had to leave far from Marseille for Father's Day, he will not come back to vote later, it is an attack on our rights," denounced this voter.

Lack of assessors

Contacted by AFP, the general direction of the services of the town hall of Marseille explained to have been confronted with "a problem of mobilization of the assessors: out of 481 offices, 40 presidents did not come to recover their bag Saturday".

The town hall made requisitions, among officials, but of the 40 requisitioned presidents, 20 were missing.

The right-wing opposition to the left-wing town hall judged "absolutely unacceptable to note this disorganization which will undoubtedly have a real impact on the free choice of voters and will encourage abstention".

Two municipal councilors Les Républicains (LR), Sabine Bernasconi and Yves Moraine, announced that they had lodged a complaint for alleged illegalities, Sabine Bernasconi told AFP, confirming information from Provence.

The left-wing coalition castigates the reaction of the oppositions

Marseille deputy Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France Insoumise) was indignant on Twitter, referring to the lack of agreement between his movement and the other left-wing parties: “In Marseille the union of the gôche (sic ) more effective in ostracizing LFI than in organizing democracy ”.

In #Marseille, the union of the gôche more effective in ostracizing LFI than in organizing democracy: 34 polling stations closed!

Shame.

What is such an election worth?

# regionales2021 # departementales2021

- Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) June 20, 2021

"We regret that the Marseillaises and Marseillais had to wait this morning in order to be able to vote," wrote the left-wing coalition of Marseille Spring, which runs the city, in a press release, criticizing "the attitude of the local right on social networks and the media aimed at inflaming a controversy ”.

Missing ballots

The shortage of assessors has been observed in other French regions: the first deputy mayor of Saint-Etienne (Loire), Gilles Artigues (UDI) testified that "the usual activist assessors were this year in insufficient number". Thanks to a mobilization by posting and by SMS, about sixty assessors were recruited, without whom "we would not have managed to keep all the offices open from 8 am to 8 pm". A problem that is likely to be accentuated in the second round, estimates the cabinet of the mayor LR: "It will be even more complicated (...) to mobilize the assessors whose candidates will not be qualified next Sunday".

In Cousolre (North), another problem was raised: "We found that there was no bulletin for the list of union of the left and environmentalists", declared to AFP Benjamin Saint- Oil, socialist mayor of the neighboring town of Jeumont and president of the agglomeration of Maubeuge, himself in third position on this list.

Very surprised that the Keeper of the Seals, who voted in this town, did not note this error, the elected representative believes that "if on the first four hours of voting, no voter could choose this ballot, it poses the question of the sincerity of the ballot ”.

In Guadeloupe, damage to schools in Gosier disturbed the vote, according to elected officials, including the mayor of Gosier who announced in a press release his intention to file a complaint.

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  • Elections

  • Regional elections

  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Marseilles

  • Jean-Luc Mélenchon