“On the map of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in Paris, an anomaly is obvious, in the heart of the city”, notes the american magazine Boltsmag, specializing in justice issues. A small Melenchonist stronghold has formed in the “rich” 1is district of the capital, which hosts the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice. This is where prisoners’ ballots are counted.
Five years ago, only 1,000 prisoners voted in the first round of the presidential election. This year, there were around 12,500. Boltsmag describes a “stark contrast” with the United States, where more than 1 million people in prison are disenfranchised.
Former prisoner and prisoners’ rights activist François Korber calls the result a“extraordinaire”. At 70, the founder of the association for the defense of prisoners, Robin des lois, evokes a long-term fight for the exercise of the right to vote.
Election puzzle
On paper, tell Boltsmag, the majority of imprisoned French people have been able to vote since 1994. In practice, things are quite different. Until recently, prisoners could not vote from prison or by mail. To go to the polls, they had to obtain an exit permit or make a power of attorney. A procedure that “can turn into a headache when you are in prison, between the paperwork to fill out and the need to find a person who votes in the same city as the applicant”. Only a minority managed to overcome these obstacles.
“This is the context in which François Korber’s association has stepped up to the plate.” After having unsuccessfully demanded, in 2016, that voting booths be installed in prisons, the group filed an appeal and raised the issue in the National Assembly. It was not until 2019 that the legislator approved the installation of polling stations in prisons.
Obstacles remain, nuance Boltsmag. The authorities are not required to organize the ballot at each election and did not, for example, do so in 2020, during the municipal elections. This cancellation, motivated by the thorny question of the city of residence of the detainees, had been denounced by François Korber.
“When you are a democrat, you have to be so to the end. If you fully recognize this right to vote, then yes, it must also apply to municipal elections. This is democracy.”