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EU citizens: your right to vote in France


Clair
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We are barking up the same tree Oscar, to make it clearer the people I object to are on an independante liste, not the Maires liste, can someone explain in plain terms what we do with the listes on Sunday?

 

Mr O had a chat in the street the other day with our Maire, he mentioned that he had had a letter from these people(the ones I do not want in charge of anything to do with my life) saying that they were not viting for him....M le Maire obviously knew they were standing on an independant liste, Le Maires adjunct who has been a helped us a lot in the few years we have been here, when asked, joked to Mr O that he should just put Mle Maires list in the envelope and do nothing with it.....ie vote our present liste in again.

Confused? you bet.

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This relates to communes of fewer than 2500 people:

There may be more than one list.

There may be individuals standing who are not on any list.

To describe our setup in southern Manche, very small commune:

  • There's the outgoing Maire's list (he's not standing for re-election but the rest of the councillors are)
  • There's the "opposition" list (who happen to want to spend more money than the current gang and are therefore being viewed with some trepidation by the comparitively poor and elderly local population).
  • There is a slip per individual standing for election - ie, individuals not included on a list.
  • You may or may not have received all the names of the people standing before the election takes place - for eg, there might be 2 lists but only one has been delivered to you or individuals may not have called on you.
  • You can take your copies of the lists and slips along to the Mairie on Sunday or there will be copies of the lists / individuals' slips there for you to take into the booth.
  • Make sure you know the maximum number of people for whom you can cast a vote. This can (as someone said) be a mixture of names across all the lists / slips if you choose.
  • Clearly cross out the people you do not want.
  • Don't touch the people you do want. Don't tick their names or anything like that.
  • Check for how many you've cast your vote. (which can be fewer than the maximum).
  • Put your list / lists / lists+slips in the envelope.
  • Drop it in the ballot box.
  • If you have inadvertently voted for more than the maximum (say: across several lists / individuals in your envelope, all in your envelope) the vote will not be counted as it will not be obvious for exactly whom you meant to vote.

  • Now go and pour yourself a stiff drink. [:P]
A few more things...

  • Your voting card is sent out by the Mairie; if you think you are registered but have not received a voting card, go and ask before Sunday.
  • Your voting card will be stamped indicating you've voted thus preventing you going round again.
  • Keep your voting card - it's valid for more than one election.
  • If you don't think your face is known, take a piece of ID as well. Heck... take a piece of ID anyway. [:D]

  • Bizarrely (to my mind) people can put themselves forward for election up until opening of the polls on Sunday morning. They just give their name to the maire.

  • Even more bizarrely, if someone has not put themselves forward for election but a groundswell of opinion would like to elect them, their name can be written on a list by each individual while voting. If elected, they can resign.

  • If a complete list has more than the maximum number to be elected on it (say 11 places but 13 names) if that list is placed in the envelope with no names crossed out, it will be counted as one vote for each of the first 11 on the list. Shame about the last two. [8-|]
And finally, if you have time or inclination, go to the count at the Mairie after voting has closed. Which, in the smaller communes, is 6pm I think. Anyone can go to the count - we went to the counts after the Presidential voting - but with the potential muddle of lists / slips / new names etc, this time, I think it will be worth watching.

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OK Catalpa, mostly got that!  Our commune has about 150 able to vote (including us).  We have received one list with two names on it, that is all. We know from the local paper that one other person is standing but have heard nothing from/about her.  We have no idea how many vacancies there are.  Our mayor is not standing for re-election - possibly the one list we have is "his"??

Questions:

1.  Apart from the obvious one of asking, how do we know how many vacancies there are?

2.  Do we understand it correctly that you just put the list/slip in the official envelope with no cross in any box?  In other words so long as the name is not crossed off you are voting for them?

We would like to look as if we know what we are doing on Sunday. 

Thanks

Mrs H

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Hello Mrs H [:D]

I thought I'd beaten everyone into submission by the length and apparent complexity of my post. [:P] It's difficult to make it really simple because there are qualifiers to practically every statement.

I think, based on the size of our commune, you have 11 vacancies to be filled. There is probably a website (Clair may have posted it in this or another thread?) that tells you but I think you will look as if you know what you are doing if you ask about the maximum number when you go to the Mairie to vote.

Yes - list / slips in the envelope with no crossing off indicates a vote for everyone in your envelope. If you do not put the slip for an individual into your envelope, for eg, effectively you've crossed them off.

Check the table (or whatever) when you arrive to see if there are lists / individuals' slips that you have not had delivered to you in advance - or to see if there are any late applicants.

It's interesting you say that there are not many applicants - I'd have thought the horror of the THT plans would have motivated people to step forward. [8-)]

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Hi Catalpa

If there are 11 vacancies then presumably there will be lots of slips to pick up on Sunday.  I think the problem of the THT line going through the village (300 m from us..) may be putting  people off from standing.  Our Mayor is standing down and we suspect this is because of a few of us making a fuss after a very poor presentation by RTE.  We would like to know the thoughts on those standing regarding this, but it looks as though we will not know before Sunday.

Thanks

Mrs H

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[quote user="opas"]Superb help and advice, but why can we not vote in the Canton election?[/quote]

Same question from us Opas.

The municipal bit went fine, but when we went next door for the cantonale, both officials were very confused to see our voting cards, but not able to find our names on the list.

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Since the Maastricht Treaty, European citizens have been able to vote

to elect their European MP and local councillors. However, they cannot

vote at regional or national level.

Since, the élections cantonales choose the representative at the Conseil Général, European citizens are not eligible to vote.

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  • 1 month later...

hi again

I was told the other night by local english people that to vote (as they hasd just done) in the local council elections you did not have to be tax resident, you only had to be a house owner.  I questioned it with them, they replied their names were on the 'list' and they were able to vote, proof of residency was not required. 

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Principe 

Les citoyens de l'Union européenne résidant en

France peuvent participer à l'élection des conseillers municipaux et

des représentants au Parlement européen dans les mêmes conditions que

les électeurs français, sous certaines réserves. 

Sont considérés comme résidant en France

les citoyens de l'Union européenne qui y ont leur domicile réel ou qui

y résident de façon continue.

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1937.xhtml?&n=Elections&l=N4&n=Elections%20politiques&l=N47

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[quote user="bigears"]

hi again

I was told the other night by local english people that to vote (as they hasd just done) in the local council elections you did not have to be tax resident, you only had to be a house owner.  I questioned it with them, they replied their names were on the 'list' and they were able to vote, proof of residency was not required. 

[/quote]

Big ears, are they in France permanantly? For sure, maison secondaire owners in our Commune were not allowed to register to vote.

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