In Ariège, some voters will have to vote again. The Constitutional Council published this Friday a new salvo of decisions concerning the appeals formulated in the context of the legislative elections of June 2022 and decided to cancel the election of the deputy LFI Bénédicte Taurine in the 1st district of Ariège.
It appears from the examination of the ballot by the Elders that the ballot papers of an RN candidate from the 2nd constituency found themselves mixed with those of the RN candidate actually in the running, Jean-Marc Garnier, during the first round, on the town of Tarascon-sur-Ariege. The 136 ballots in the name of the candidate from the wrong constituency were discarded from the final result.
However, the RN candidate obtained 6,229 votes, and the En Marche candidate, 6,237, and it was thus the latter who qualified for the second round. Due to the very small difference (8 votes) between the two contenders for the office of deputy, the Constitutional Council considered in its decision that the sincerity of the ballot could have “be altered”, since the taking into account.
Bénédicte Taurine, LFI candidate, had largely come out on top in the first round, with 33.12% of the vote, and won with 55.41% of the vote the following Sunday.
Jean-Michel Blanquer definitely third
However, many appeals have been rejected at the same time, eight in total. Among them, that of the former Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer. Also arriving in third position on the evening of the first round, he had lodged a complaint before the Constitutional Council, and criticized the fact that his opponent Nupes, Bruno Nottin would have “violated several electoral rules during the campaign”.
The ex-minister mentioned in particular “sponsored Facebook posts to voters”, as well as an “imitation of leaflets” parodying his own. He also questioned the “Ibiza collective”, and the mockery of a man being presented as his “double”.
However, the Constitutional Council found nothing wrong with the electoral process. “The exploitation, in a humorous and parodic way, of the physical resemblance between Mr. Blanquer and Mr. Nour Durand-Raucher, member of the collective and support of Mr. Nottin, could not (…) mislead the voters on the identity of the candidates in the first round of voting or on the party or the political shade which supported them”, ruled the Sages.
On the other arguments put forward by Jean-Michel Blanquer, here again, it is estimated that the candidate Blanquer “had the time necessary to reply usefully, before the first round of the ballot”, and that the litigious leaflets revealed “without ambiguity that it was a forgery”.
Two other polls canceled in January
Two French deputies living abroad, those from the 2nd constituency (Caribbean, South America) and the 9th constituency (Maghreb, West Africa), also saw their elections canceled on 20th January. This brings to six the number of canceled ballots in the 2022 legislative elections.
They are added to those of the 8th constituency of Pas-de-Calais, the 2nd of Marne and the 1st of Charente. In these, voters have already been called to the polls to elect their deputy again, the second round will take place this Sunday.