Since Friday noon, French people living abroad and registered on consular electoral lists can vote online for the first round of legislative elections. Impossible, however, for some of them to complete their process due to a technical problem, noted France info.
After having identified themselves and having selected the candidate of their choice, the French concerned by the bug do not receive the validation code supposed to allow them to vote. The problem, which was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, comes from their email address, the Quai d’Orsay said on Saturday. It “concerns the sending of confirmation emails to voters using a Yahoo email address”.
The number of voters affected by the bug remains difficult to assess. But in San Francisco alone, “12.8% of voters use Yahoo! “says Loïc Le Gland, consular adviser in California, to France info.
“To govern is to foresee, isn’t it? »
French people living abroad have until Wednesday June 1 to vote online. Will the bug be fixed by then? “Technical support teams are currently working to address this issue. The voters have been informed of this and they will be informed again when it is resolved”, indicates the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which assures in passing that this technical difficulty did not occur “during the two full-scale tests”.
On social networks, voters are getting impatient. “So we will not be able to vote online. To govern is to foresee, right? “annoyed a user. “What do we do to be heard? asks another. The leader of rebellious France Jean-Luc Melenchon joined in the reproaches: “Darmanin continues his exploits with the vote of the French from abroad… The Nupes candidates are not identified and the electronic voting system is faulty”, he mocked this Sunday on Twitter.
The alternatives offered by the authorities, ie going to a polling station, voting by proxy or by post, are not really suitable for expatriates. “French people living abroad have more difficulty accessing polling stations (located in consulates and embassies) while the French territory is extremely well meshed in terms of polling stations ”, explained Friday to the Parisian Thierry Vedel, member of the political research center of Sciences-po the CEVIPOF.
There are 11 constituencies covering the globe, and as many French deputies living abroad since 2012. Internet voting was implemented that year, but not in 2017 for the last legislative elections. It was a question of warding off possible cyberattacks, in the context of suspicions about the 2016 American election which had seen the victory of Donald Trump.