I don’t usually get involved in politics on this blog, but this is important. Last Sunday, 7 July, marked the second round of the French general election and, as a French citizen, I was proud to do my democratic duty and cast my vote.

In the first round, a week earlier, the hard-right RN (Rassemblement Nationale – just a polite way of saying ‘fascists’) – polled by far the largest share of the vote and in the view of many, including most opinion polls, looked set to command the largest bloc of seats in the National Assembly, and possibly even an overall majority. Not a cheery prospect.

In the event, after the second round the RN trailed in third, behind both the left-wing and centrist blocs, thanks to some well-organised tactical voting and a clear rejection, upon mature reflection, by French voters of what the RN represents. Politics in France may be at an impasse as a consequence, with no group having a working majority, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a lot better than the alternative.

Which brings me to the somewhat idiosyncratic practicalities of casting your vote in France. There’s nothing so simple as putting a cross next to your preferred candidate on a ballot paper. Instead, after registration, you pick up an envelope from a table which also carries piles of slips, each bearing the names and party affiliations of the candidates standing in your constituency. You need to collect at least two of these slips and then enter a curtained booth. You then put the slip of your choice into the envelope, come out and hand it over to an official, who posts it into what’s called the urne – a locked transparent plastic ballot box.

Before leaving the curtained booth, you put the rejected, unused slips into a waste-paper basket. That’s interesting, because voters can see which candidates have previously been rejected (although not who you or anybody else has actually voted for). To me, it was greatly encouraging to observe that there were already quite a lot of RN slips in that bin.

Exactly where they belong.

Cellpic Sunday 14 July 2024