That was very interesting. Can you vote then if you are not a French citizen? (Not sure if you are). And how do they keep people voting more than once if they give out ballots either ahead of time or more than one to a person?
Rosemary Kneipp
March 23rd, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Hi Jacqueline. Non, you have to be a French citizen to vote. I have had dual nationality for some time now (http://www.aussieinfrance.com/2011/11/battling-with-french-administration/).
I have never voted in any country except France so I don’t know what ballots are like in other countries. Here, there is a ballot paper for each candidate (or two in this case as there was a man and woman each time). You select the candidate(s) you want to vote for, but the corresponding ballot paper in the little blue envelope which you only put in the urn after signing the roll.
The run-off aspect of elections isn’t seen here, but the process on election days are much the same. We have a federal election coming up in the fall, unless the present government decides to go early.
Rosemary Kneipp
March 23rd, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Do you have preferential voting the way they do in Australia?
I wonder what the stats are for younger generation versus older generation actually voting seeing as it is not compulsory.
Rosemary Kneipp
March 24th, 2015 at 9:57 am
Hi Helen, I tried to find information, but without success. I can only find the participation rates in general. The results for the first round for candidates elected directly (no second round) are 220 right wing, 56 left wing and 8 far-right wing. The absention rate was less than predicted with 48.93% who didn’t vote compared with 455.7% in the previous départementales elections in 2011. I’ll try and find more statistics about age and absention. One of the contributing factors to absention is that you have to go in person to the polling booth or go to a police station beforehand and register for someone else to vote for you. You can imagine that a lot of young people (and not so young!) couldn’t be bothered.
That was very interesting. Can you vote then if you are not a French citizen? (Not sure if you are). And how do they keep people voting more than once if they give out ballots either ahead of time or more than one to a person?
Hi Jacqueline. Non, you have to be a French citizen to vote. I have had dual nationality for some time now (http://www.aussieinfrance.com/2011/11/battling-with-french-administration/).
I have never voted in any country except France so I don’t know what ballots are like in other countries. Here, there is a ballot paper for each candidate (or two in this case as there was a man and woman each time). You select the candidate(s) you want to vote for, but the corresponding ballot paper in the little blue envelope which you only put in the urn after signing the roll.
The run-off aspect of elections isn’t seen here, but the process on election days are much the same. We have a federal election coming up in the fall, unless the present government decides to go early.
Do you have preferential voting the way they do in Australia?
I wonder what the stats are for younger generation versus older generation actually voting seeing as it is not compulsory.
Hi Helen, I tried to find information, but without success. I can only find the participation rates in general. The results for the first round for candidates elected directly (no second round) are 220 right wing, 56 left wing and 8 far-right wing. The absention rate was less than predicted with 48.93% who didn’t vote compared with 455.7% in the previous départementales elections in 2011. I’ll try and find more statistics about age and absention. One of the contributing factors to absention is that you have to go in person to the polling booth or go to a police station beforehand and register for someone else to vote for you. You can imagine that a lot of young people (and not so young!) couldn’t be bothered.
Thanks Rosemary. Very interesting that someone else can vote for you.