The president of the Occitanie Region Carole Delga and the president of the departmental council of Tarn Christophe Ramond wrote to the mayors of Tarn to encourage them to answer “yes to the vote” to the “consultation” launched by the State on the postponement or not of local elections next June.
“All the mayors of France received an email from their prefect on Friday evening asking them to answer” yes or no if the conditions recommended by the scientific committee seem to be met to hold the 2 ballots scheduled for next June ” And this before Monday noon …
Every day, we, local elected officials, carry out consultation times on our scale. We lead them with clarity, with the concern of finding solutions to make life easier for our fellow citizens. We conduct them with respect for our interlocutors and taking responsibility for the decisions incumbent on us.
Since the beginning of the health crisis, we have not stopped asking the Government to take better account of the opinions of the territories. On the lack of masks, the lack of tests, or today, our desire to speed up vaccination….
If it is legitimate for the State to take the opinion of the Mayors, this “consultation” questions us. Because it was absolutely not provided for in the Prime Minister’s framework letter sent to the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate regarding the elections next June. Because the unprecedented use of the “weather alert SMS” device, reserved for major crises, and never used since the start of the health crisis, or when securing schools following the terrible attack on the teacher Samuel Paty, n is not tolerable.
We must not accept this precedent and we must not make mayors bear the responsibility of organizing a poll which is entirely the responsibility of the State.
The health security of voters and those who participate in the vote is essential, but health security and democracy cannot be opposed.
For us, the answer is therefore: yes to democracy. Yes, we are ready.
[…] We had already noted that these elections would take place under special conditions due to the health context. However, should we still be worried about a new postponement after June even though the Government gives us hope for the resumption of life in public places by mid-May and tells us that the vaccination campaign is in full swing in the territory? ? Many European neighbors have had to organize elections during a pandemic, demonstrating that Covid-19 and democracy are compatible, provided we give ourselves the means (Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Finland, Iceland and Norway). We refuse to believe that France would be incapable of doing the same. Let us add that concrete proposals have been made by our associations of elected officials to guarantee the safest ballot. It is indisputable that the fight against the health crisis motivated the decline of some of our individual freedoms in order to control the epidemic. However, this pandemic cannot justify the retreat of any of our collective freedoms, first and foremost the right to vote of our fellow citizens. But elections are an essential act of democracy. We cannot put our democracy on hold. The people vote. It chooses its representatives for a defined period.
Unless the situation worsens in the coming weeks, it is up to the State alone, to guarantee the organization and the sanitary conditions of the voting operations.
So let’s say yes.
Yes to respect for the rule of law. Yes to democracy! “
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