Parliament abolished the vote “by correspondence” on Wednesday detainees for certain electionsparliamentarians believing that the current system can tip the result of municipalities or constituencies with which the prisoners have no link, the left denouncing a “political” text within a year of the municipal.
Adopted after a last vote of the Assembly, the text initiated by the senator Horizons Laure Darcos, and supported by the government, returns in part to a system established in 2019 of “by correspondence” vote. At the time, it was a question of installing a polling station in the penitentiary establishment, then of sending the bulletins of the detainees to the town hall of the department where the prison is located, where they are counted.
The objective: to promote the participation of detainees, with a certain success according to Jean MOULLIERE (HORIZONS), rapporteur to the Assembly, who notes in his report that she “went from 1 % to the 2017 legislative elections to 20 % to those of 2024”. His report points out that “mail order (East) used by more than 90 % of prisoners ”, simpler than proxyand more accessible than an exit permission.
“Electoral distortion”
However, the system led to an “electoral distortion”, the deputy underlined in the hemicycle. He cites certain municipalities (Tulle, Évry-Courcouronnes, Melun, …) where the share of prisoners in the electoral body would be likely to reach or exceed 5 %.
According to the support of the text, the fact that all the bulletins are counted in the commune chief town can tip the result, when it is played for a few tens or hundreds of votes. “An impact undervalued in 2019 of the vote of this population in a territory in which it has never lived,” said Anne Bergantz (MoDem).
Parliament has abolished this right in territorialized elections (municipal, departmental, regional and legislative), but maintained it in the event of a single district (presidential, European, referendum). Adopted by 109 votes to 60, the text cut the hemicycle in two: the central block and the alliance Rn-Ciottistes voted for, the left and the independents of Liot against.
“This text is more isolates an already marginalized population,” insurgerated Nicolas Sansu (PCF). The environmentalist Léa Balage El Mariky denounced “purely political motives on the eve of the municipal elections”. Ugo Bernalicis (LFI) accused the text of risking making prisoners of “sub-citizens”, and of making them “return to 2 % of participation”.
Some deputies have without success that the voting bulletins be sent to the municipalities where prisoners resided or have family. A system “from a more satisfactory theoretical point of view”, but “in practice it is completely unrealizable”, replied Mouliere.
