It is a historic claim: the right to vote for foreigners in local elections. And this time, it is a Macronist deputy, Sacha Houlié, who intends to present a constitutional bill to this effect at the start of the school year.
Since 1992, European Union nationals living in France have been able to vote in municipal elections. But today, this is not the case for non-EU foreigners. Faced with the announcement of this bill, the left grabbed the ball while the right and the extreme right uttered cries of outrage.
” No one is surprised that a Spaniard or a Bulgarian can vote in municipal elections. But it shocked a lot of people that the English couldn’t do it since Brexit. “, justifies Sacha Houlié. The young president of the Law Commission, a figure on the left flank of the macronie, speaks of an initiative ” personal » which he will bring to his parliamentary group at the start of the school year.
Julien Bayou, co-president of ecologists at the Assembly explains that this is a fight that long-standing ecologists are fighting: “ And if Sacha Houlié files it, he will have the support of environmentalists. The Nupes proposed the right to vote for foreigners in their program. It’s a question of justice when you consider that all these people who live regularly in France, settled for five years for example, contribute to local life, pay their taxes and raise their children there. And for the rebellious Thomas Portes, It is a matter of common sense “.
On the other hand, the idea arouses strong criticism on the right and the far right. Thomas Ménagé is spokesperson for the RN group in the hemicycle: “ The right to vote for foreigners is also the right to be eligible for local elections, and I do not want people who do not share the values of the Republic, who do not have French nationality, who are radical Islamists who are on our soil can become tomorrow’s elected officials. »
A situation experienced as an injustice for non-EU foreigners
And if this announcement delights the left, divides the majority and makes the right jump, what about the foreigners who have long campaigned for the establishment of this right to vote?
For Tarek Toukabri, it’s an injustice: ” On the one hand, we pay our taxes to the last penny and afterwards, we have no right to look at how this money is spent! “. The president of the Democratic Association of Tunisians in France, a fervent activist, welcomes this bill as good news: “ I hope it will pass, anyway, we will not let go. We are in France: I am there, I vote there. It is a right, France must fulfill this right. It’s a fight, I hope we win. »
Ali El Baz has also been campaigning for this for over twenty years. This retired Moroccan regrets that this right is granted to European Union nationals living in France, and not to non-EU foreigners: “ All Europeans live here in my city. After six months, a German, for example, has the right to vote, whereas I have been there for 40 years and I still do not have the right to vote, and I find that to be a profound injustice. For him, this bill is above all a political maneuver: “ I don’t believe it anymore. It’s a petty little debate, I think. We take out this right to vote like a carrot, we brandish it and after a few months, we will forget it. »
The initiative, which requires changing the Constitution, has little chance of succeeding. Especially since the very right-wing Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has already made it known that he was against it. But the left wing of the presidential camp tries to exist. And dream of weighing in the arbitrations of the executive.
►To listen: The vote of foreigners in local elections in France