6:19 am: The French in Shanghai will not be able to vote
The worst wave of Covid-19 in China since the start of the epidemic will have an impact on this Sunday’s ballot in France. The French in Shanghai will indeed not be able to vote due to confinement.
Under very strict health measures, the 25 million Shanghainese are forced to stay at home. In this context, “it was decided not to open the polling stations in Shanghai”, indicates the French embassy. Despite “repeated steps”, including “at a high level”, the embassy specifies that it has not been able to obtain from the authorities a derogation for French voters. For the second round, everything will depend on “the evolution of local health standards”.
At the end of 2021, Shanghai had more than 7,000 French people registered with the consulate, i.e. more than half of the French community established in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao). Some 4,800 people were then registered on the electoral lists of the Chinese economic capital.