“We took what was lying around in the municipal workshop” | EUROtoday

Victim of a lack of voice, Patrick Mangin has issue talking. But that doesn't cease it from counting. At a minimal of 60 centimeters of show area per candidate, the mayor with no label of Saint-Maurice-aux-Forges (Meurthe-et-Moselle) had to supply greater than 22 meters of panels for the thirty-eight lists which declared themselves within the European elections of June 9. “Almost 800 kilometers of panels” if we depend the nation's 35,000 municipalities, sighs the faint voice of the Lorraine elected official. “Abominable figures”he feedback: there can be sufficient to construct a wall all alongside the freeway of the solar…

But it's particularly a headache whenever you solely have six electoral panels in your village of 100 inhabitants. And you needed to be prepared on May 27 at midnight. “The mayor is not there to discuss the law, but to apply it”notes Patrick Mangin, specifying nevertheless: “We made do with the means at hand. » The town had an old ping-pong table with broken legs. This will do the trick, said the mayor of Saint-Maurice-aux-Forges. Placed vertically, there is enough space to cut out eight double-sided display locations – which is theoretically prohibited.

Like Patrick Mangin, all elected officials in the country had to deal with the obligations of article L51 of the electoral code and a circular signed on April 4 by the Minister of the Interior. Municipalities are not obliged to purchase metal panels. They can manage. And in many villages, this is what we did. Mayor of Sainte-Pôle, in the same department as Patrick Mangin, François Philippe (without label) simply drew spaces with chalk on a wall located opposite the town hall and the polling station. “Everyone is in the same boat”rejoices the councilor of this village of 190 inhabitants, crossing his fingers: “The rain has not yet erased the features…”

“Ubuesque situation”

In Chamboret (Haute-Vienne), the varied left-wing elected official purchased plywood boards. “It was the least expensivejustifies Jean-Jacques Duprat, 500 euros, not including the agents' working time. » Mayor since 1977, he considers that the displays no longer serve much purpose: “People don't make up their minds on voting day by looking at the posters. » Especially since not all candidates print them and many of these panels will therefore remain blank. This multiplication of lists is the symptom of“a society that is becoming more and more individualistic”he worries.

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