The French Embassy in China made it official on Friday April 8 in the morning: the French living in Shanghai, an entirely confined metropolis, will not be able to vote for the first round of the presidential election, Sunday April 10. “Because of these exceptional circumstances which are the official impossibility of traveling and the consequences to which our compatriots are exposed as a result of the measures taken by the local authorities, and after consultation with the Constitutional Council, it was decided not to open the polling stations of Shanghai for the first round of the presidential election”, the embassy announced in a statement sent to voters. There are 4,622 French people registered on the electoral lists who thus find themselves deprived of their right to vote.
“I am frustrated: I have the impression that in China, my freedom of movement and of thought are taken away from me. Afterwards, I find that the means of voting for referendums and elections are obsolete in 2022, in the digital age”, regrets Jason Vanmaele, commercial director of Greenwire, a consulting company in the supply of solar panels, based in Shanghai for four years. After weeks of trying to control an outbreak of the Omicron variant with targeted measures, Chinese authorities decided to lock down the entire city at the end of March. Under these conditions, the holding of an election is impossible, since the voters, and the staff of the consulate in charge of the organization of the ballot, are all prohibited from leaving their homes.
only workers “essential” are allowed to circulate: volunteers, police and some delivery men. The Chinese authorities made no exception for the holding of a democratic election. “Repeated approaches have been made to the authorities, including at high level, in order to allow, on the one hand, the authorization to open the polling stations and, on the other hand, an exceptional authorization to leave for the voters and members of polling stations and assessors confined. Unfortunately, it was answered by the Shanghai authorities on April 7 that “given the serious and complicated situation (…), it is objectively impossible to fulfill the conditions for the organization by your consulate of the election, for the safety of all people residing in Shanghai”. said the French embassy.
The baccalaureate and the patent threatened
The inability to vote adds to a growing list of difficulties for residents: “I would say that’s a problem, but there are others that are a bit more pressing: access to food, to medical emergencies… point Hugues Martin, heritage adviser and “head of block” in the west of Shanghai, a local relay post to assist French nationals. We are not that numerous, so that should not change the result of the election, but I especially hope that we can at least vote in the second round. » The option of voting by proxy is not possible, since the ballot must be deposited in the same office as that of the registrant. Unlike some countries, France does not allow online or postal voting.
You have 34.63% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.