Since this midnight Friday evening and until Sunday 8 p.m., democratic silence takes precedence over the cacophony to give voters time to reflect. For a little less than 48 hours, the rule of electoral silence will require presidential candidates, the media and even citizens to no longer “disseminate or cause to be disseminated by any means of communication to the public electronically any message having the character of electoral propaganda”, as specified by law.
Prohibited therefore, for the candidates and their campaign teams, from distributing leaflets, sticking up electoral posters, granting interviews or even holding public meetings, under penalty of a fine of 3,750 euros. The Constitutional Council specifies that it is also prohibited “to proceed, by an automated system or not, to the serial telephone call of voters in order to encourage them to vote for a candidate”, as Éric Zemmour recently did, the Reconquest candidate.
According to this same logic, it is also forbidden to “bring to the attention of the public a new element of electoral controversy at a time such that its adversaries do not have the possibility of responding to it. While some are content to no longer appear in the media and no longer publish anything on social networks, others, like François Hollande in 2012, can choose to temporarily deactivate their online presence to avoid disappointments.
Particularly watched polls
The dissemination of opinion polls and voting intentions is particularly controlled by the authorities, who impose “limitations or prohibitions that are all the stricter as we approach election day”, according to the Constitutional Council, which insists on the need to “guarantee the sincerity of the ballot and avoid any form of untimely pressure on voters”. The first estimates of the polling institutes can therefore only be revealed from 8 p.m. on Sunday.
“It follows that any reference, on election day, to such polls can only be the result of rumors or manipulation and that no credit should be given to them”, summarizes the National Commission for the Control of the Electoral Campaign. for the presidential election (CNCCEP). In the same way, it is totally prohibited to broadcast and publish the partial results of the presidential election. However, with each election, the foreign media, notably Belgian and Swiss, which are not bound by the French Electoral Code, tend to publish them before their time.
A rule that also applies to citizens?
In theory, candidates and the media are not the only ones affected by these provisions of the Electoral Code. If in principle “communication on the Internet is free”, writes the Constitutional Council, “citizens are not exempt from respecting these rules either. It is therefore preferable to refrain from any propaganda activity the day before and on polling day”, specify the Sages.
In fact, there is still very little chance that you will have problems with the law if you suddenly feel like declaring your love for your favorite candidate on Sunday afternoon. For example, in 2012, the polls commission and the national commission for the control of the electoral campaign had only mobilized ten agents to monitor the entire French Internet… Not enough to make the rebels tremble, therefore.