PROXY. The ballot boxes give voters an appointment on Sunday May 12 and 19, 2022 to elect the new deputies. Thousands of French people decide to give power of attorney to a loved one in order to be able to vote. Here is the detailed procedure.
[Mis à jour le 31 mai 2022 à 14h03] The French are invited to go to the polling stations on Sundays June 12 and 19, less than a month after their last vote for the presidential election. This time, voters must slip a ballot into the ballot box to elect the deputies, a choice full of challenges because the composition of the National Assembly will depend on the future policies of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term. Small problem, many voters will not be available to go to the polling stations on election days that fall during school holidays. For them, the power of attorney is the solution. Thousands of proxies have already been validated and will be active for the legislative elections.
Good news, there is still time to take the process to give power of attorney to a loved one. In theory, voters have until polling day, June 12, to appoint a proxy to vote in their place. But it is better not to go about it too late because, as the Ministry of the Interior reminds us, “in the event of a late request, given the delivery times and the consideration by the town hall of your power of attorney, your proxy may not be able to vote for you”.
A power of attorney can be given in a few steps. Just log in to this platformhaving previously noted the voter number of your trustworthy person as well as their date of birth, or all their civil status data and their voting municipality. It should be noted that since January 1, 2022, the procedure has been facilitated and voters can appoint an agent who votes in another municipality. Once the process is online, detailed here, done, all you have to do is go to the police station, the gendarmerie or the consulate to have your identity checked and your power of attorney validated. A notification sent by email will confirm the validation of the power of attorney.
Proxy election: the form at the police, gendarmerie, in court
To establish your power of attorney, you can go to a police station, a gendarmerie brigade, or to the district court of your home or place of work. At the counter of these institutions, you will be provided with a form to be completed by hand. If you live abroad, you will have to go to the consulate or the embassy. In the event that you cannot travel – for health reasons alone, the only justification taken into account -, you will have to ask the authorities to come to you to establish the power of attorney at your home, justifying your written request with a medical certificate or proof of infirmity.
Another solution if you want to save some time: you can now download the same form from the Internet (named Cerfa 14952*s01), complete it electronically and then print it. You can get it by clicking directly here from our site. The document is to be printed on two sheets. You must complete the sections “Vote by proxy”, “Sworn statement” and “Receipt to be given to the principal”. The State has implemented this procedure for a few years and hopes to facilitate the use of power of attorney. This does not exempt you from filing it at the police station/gendarmerie/district court – this step is essential – but you will spend less time in the corridors or at the reception of these administrations.
In both cases, the information to be completed is the same. First, you must provide your identity, address, date of birth, telephone, email. You then fill in several fields concerning this “proxy: his surname/first name(s)/address/date of birth. Finally, you must choose the period of validity of the power of attorney (a specific election or an end period). The administration asks you to complete a sworn statement, attesting to the reason why you cannot meet your electoral obligations (health reasons, disability, professional or training obligations, holidays, residence in a municipality other than the one where you are registered on the electoral list, etc.) Once the complete form has been completed, you will obtain a receipt confirming the fact that you, the principal, have given power of attorney to your agent for the chosen election.
When you complete the proxy form, you have two options: either you choose a type of election (legislative election of 05/12/2022, for example), or you choose a period of validity (proxy valid “until DD /MM/YYYY”). In the case of a specific election, you must specify whether you are giving proxy for the 1st ballot only, for the 2nd ballot only, or for both ballots. If you choose an end date, be aware that a power of attorney can only be established for a maximum period of one year on national territory and three years in embassies or consulates for French voters who live in the stranger. It is therefore up to you to choose which type of power of attorney best corresponds to your absence (holidays, expatriation, occasional impossibility related to your work, etc.).
In theory, you can apply for a proxy until the day of the first round, i.e. until April 12, 2022 for the next legislative elections. But the request must have time to be sent, the polling station must be notified in time. To carry out this process, count a delay of routing and processing of the power of attorney at the town hall. Take your steps as soon as possible to prevent your proxy from being prevented from voting in your place on D-Day. In general, it becomes difficult to be sure of being able to vote by proxy if the steps have not been taken. not been carried out at least three days before the electoral deadline.
The person who will vote for you can be your husband, your wife, your brother, your mother, a friend, a neighbora political activist whose sympathies you share… The law imposes no criteria as to the nature of your relationship. Before the vote, communicate to him the name of the candidate or the list to which you wish to give your vote. She is free to respect your choice… or not! So obviously choose a trusted person because it is he who will put the ballot in the envelope and who will therefore play on the results of the presidential election of 2022. Note that, since July 1, 2022, it is now possible to give his power of attorney to a voter registered on the electoral lists of a municipality other than his own.
The answer is simple: no documents. The person who votes for you does not have to provide any specific proof. This person to whom the proxy has been entrusted will not receive any official documents before the vote. All he has to do is show up at YOUR polling station with an identity document, give your name before depositing the ballot in the ballot box, the president of the office will verify the existence of the power of attorney and validate his vote as not any other. Your proxy will therefore vote twice: once in his name in his polling station, once in your name in your office. To facilitate the task, do not hesitate to communicate to him in advance the opening hours of the polling station.