A big disappointment.
"The French in Shanghai will not be able to vote on Sunday for the first round of the presidential election due to the confinement imposed in the Chinese city in the face of a resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic", announced Friday April 8 the embassy. from France to Beijing.
Repeated approaches to Chinese authorities to obtain permission to open a polling station at the French consulate and for voters and polling station workers to be allowed to leave their homes failed, the embassy said.
"Unfortunately, the Shanghai authorities responded on April 7 that 'given the serious and complicated situation in Shanghai, it is objectively impossible to fulfill the conditions for your consulate to organize the election, for the safety of all people residing in Shanghai'," the embassy said on its WeChat account.
"A great frustration"
Shanghai authorities and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The city of Shanghai has about 26 million inhabitants, including 4,848 French voters registered in December, according to the embassy.
The city is under lockdown to fight China's worst Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began in Wuhan more than two years ago.
"It's a great frustration, because it's a right we have and we have never missed a single election," said David Iosub, 47, a Parisian who has lived with his family in Shanghai for eight years.
Polling stations in six other cities across China, including Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, will open as scheduled.
With Reuters
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