• On Sunday, voters are called to go to the polling stations during the first round of the presidential election, before returning two weeks later for the second round.

  • At the same time, the Covid-19 epidemic is still raging, with high figures of daily contaminations.

  • Two years after the municipal elections, the organization of which had been greatly disrupted by the pandemic, the authorities this year established a health protocol for polling stations.

More than five days before the first round of the presidential election.

On Sunday, voters are called to go to their polling station to designate the candidate they wish to see as head of state.

But if the lifting of health restrictions on March 14 was accompanied by the end of the wearing of compulsory masks in closed public places, the Covid-19 epidemic which is still ongoing has prompted the government to draw up a health protocol, the details of which have been specified by the Ministry of the Interior.

On the program for the two rounds: no health restrictions in the polling stations.

But a few barrier gestures are strongly recommended, and the logistics of the ballot provide for measures intended to keep the coronavirus away from the ballot box.

History to avoid reproducing the disaster scenario of the municipal elections of spring 2020.

A vote without any health restrictions (and without the cacophony of the municipal elections of 2020)

At the start of the pandemic two years ago, on the eve of the first confinement and when masks and hydroalcoholic gel were almost impossible to find, the first round of municipal elections was therefore held, at the end of which many assessors - and of voters – had contracted Covid-19.

This had earned the government to be castigated by the entire political class, which had denounced its exclusion from any consultation, and which had pushed the executive to postpone the second round.

Two years later, on the eve of the supreme election, there is no question of taking the same path, even if the health situation is radically different.

At the beginning of January, the government brought together all the declared candidates and all the parties represented in Parliament "for an exchange on the progress of the presidential campaign in the tense epidemic context", and announced the creation of a Covid-elections liaison committee. .

An “approach prompted by the strong epidemic pressure linked to the very rapid dissemination of the Omicron variant”, specified the head of government, Jean Castex.

Placed under the aegis of the Council of State and the Interior services, this committee handed in its copy a few days ago.

At stake: a fairly flexible protocol according to which, as we have said, the vote is organized without any health restrictions.

No question of being asked for a vaccination pass or even a mask covering the nose and mouth.

Thus, “no one of the following documents can be required from voters and people participating in the organization or the conduct of the ballot: proof of vaccination, certificate of recovery or completion of a virological test”, indicates the ministry.

"Voting is a constitutional right, so nothing can prevent a person from going to vote", "there will be no health pass, vaccination pass, or test required to go and vote at the entrance to the offices of vote",

The mask not mandatory, but recommended

Thus, the time for the isolation of people with covids is over: “For people who are contaminated in the days preceding the vote, they will be able to go and vote”, assured Gabriel Attal.

However, the government specifies that if “wearing a mask and the rules of physical distancing are not compulsory in polling stations, wearing a mask remains strongly recommended”.

Wave of sub-variant BA.2 obliges, the authorities logically call all "symptomatic people, people who are contact cases at risk, people who have been tested positive for Covid-19, and up to 7 days after their release from isolation to go there masked.

A recommendation also addressed to the most vulnerable voters.

Are thus invited to vote masked “the elderly, immunocompromised, chronically ill and fragile, as well as their caregivers”.

And if the end of the compulsory mask makes you leave your home without, “in all polling stations, surgical masks will be made available to voters and people participating in the organization or the conduct of the ballot who wish to wear them. “, provides the protocol.

For the proper conduct of the ballot, voters wearing a mask may be asked "to remove it briefly to verify their identity", adds the ministry.

Hydroalcoholic gel, hygiene measures and office ventilation on the program

But the end of restrictions should not result in the end of barrier gestures.

“Hand washing remains (…) essential”, recalls the government.

To this end, “a hand washing point or hydroalcoholic gel will be made available to voters, specifies the protocol.

And the material made available to voters (pens, storage, ballot boxes, voting booths) will be cleaned frequently during the ballot.

In addition, while many experts have been calling for many months to ensure the quality of indoor air, each "polling station will be very regularly ventilated: ten minutes every hour, or according to indications of the CO2 sensors if the room is equipped with them”.

Finally, promises Beauvau, "for those participating in the organization or the conduct of the ballot who would like it, self-tests will be made available".

Because the virus continues to circulate actively.

To date, contamination remains at a high level, with a seven-day average of more than 138,000 daily cases, reports Public Health France, or 10,000 more than a week ago.

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  • Health

  • Coronavirus

  • epidemic

  • Covid-19

  • Presidential election 2022