• Viral publications on social networks reported ballots for candidate Eric Zemmour, during the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, presenting "marks".

    For supporters of the polemicist, these ballots could be considered invalid.

  • Contacted by

    20 Minutes

    , neither the Var prefecture – where one of Eric Zemmour's supporters who denounced these brands on social networks voted -, nor the Association of Mayors of France, nor the candidate's campaign team have had knowledge of non-compliant bulletins.

  • The Ministry of the Interior specifies that the ballots which present defects are replaced when they are reported by the polling stations.

A scribble, an ink stain, an annotation?

This Sunday, the day of the first round of the 2022 presidential election, several Internet users alerted to the presence of traces on certain ballot papers.

Almost all of the ballots concerned were those of the candidate Eric Zemmour.

“Beware fraud.

Out of 12 candidates, only the ballots had a mark, ”warned a user on Twitter on Sunday.

Joined by

20 Minutes

, this sympathizer of the polemicist explains that he himself observed discreet marks on the ballots in his polling station, in the Var.

Other supporters of the polemicist also cried fraud on social networks, fearing an invalidation of their vote.

A legitimate fear since, as specified by the Ministry of the Interior: “The ballots bearing internal or external signs of recognition are considered invalid (article L. 66 of the electoral code).

This preserves the secrecy of the vote.

»

FAKE OFF

The user contacted by

20 Minutes

does not know if the ballots with a discreet mark have been invalidated, since he did not participate in the counting in his polling station.

The Var prefecture tells 20 Minutes that it has not received any reports of large-scale fraud or invalid ballots in a polling station.

Same story on the side of the Association of Mayors of France, which was not informed of non-compliant ballots for the reasons given on social networks.

No rise in the entourage of Eric Zemmour

Among those close to Eric Zemmour, the publications on social networks surprised.

Antoine Baudino, parliamentary assistant to Stéphane Ravier and activist for Reconquest!

saw a few tweets, "but in the Lyon region, where I am, we haven't heard of it.

“For Eric Zemmour's campaign team at the national level, this is not a subject: “We have no feedback from our activists for this.

And yet we have been attentive to the counts all over France.

»

It remains to turn to the side of the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for organizing the elections.

As Place Beauvau explains, each prefecture issues a call for tenders and contracts with a printer.

Some defects, "related to printing or trimming problems, are sometimes reported as for each presidential election", explains the Ministry of the Interior.

“When these defects were identified, the batches were checked and if the defects were confirmed, the slips were not used” – and therefore replaced by other conforming batches.

Sovereign polling stations

“A very marginal number of ballots with material defects may have circulated, continues the Ministry of the Interior.

When such material defects are reported by the municipalities, the prefectures can proceed with the reallocation of ballot papers”.

Place Beauvau recalls, however, that the invalidation of ballots at the time of counting is the sole competence of the polling station, which decides sovereignly whether the ballots are invalid.

In this case, they are appended to the minutes (article L. 66 of the electoral code) and examined by the census commission (art. 25 of decree n°2001-213 of March 8, 2001) then, in the case of the presidential election, by the Constitutional Council.

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  • Presidential election 2022

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