Small hiccup on the civil rights of imprisoned people. According to the National Observatory of Prisons (OIP), 489 ballots cast by prisoners could not be counted during the first round, due to “the prison administration’s shortcomings in the postal voting procedure”. A figure that seems modest, but which still represents 4.4% of the votes cast by mail, out of a total of 11,229 prisoners who voted on April 10.
“For the majority of them, the cause lies in forgetting to attach the identity certificate of the detainees”, specified the OIP. “A circular would have since been sent to the agents so that the dysfunctions identified do not recur in the second round”, indicated the NGO which suggested in particular to establish polling stations in prison. It was also the first time that prisoners could vote by post for a presidential election.
Before this postal vote was introduced, only two possibilities were offered to detainees to exercise their right: to obtain an exit permit to go to the polls or to find a representative registered in the same municipality. These two methods, permitted since 1994, are very difficult to implement and have never resulted in significant participation rates. About 2% of the prison population thus voted in the 2017 presidential election. With this new voting method, 13,672 people detained out of a total of more than 70,000 on March 1 were registered to vote. The Chancellery did not want to react to the revelations of the OIP.