FRANCE: Senate debates on whether to extend the right of vote to non-European Union immigrants in French local elections
Record ID:
327651
FRANCE: Senate debates on whether to extend the right of vote to non-European Union immigrants in French local elections
- Title: FRANCE: Senate debates on whether to extend the right of vote to non-European Union immigrants in French local elections
- Date: 9th December 2011
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (DECEMBER 8, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF FRENCH SENATE WORDS "SENATE" ON BUILDING
- Embargoed: 24th December 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAA90F8NCNK31GT8I97186CQCNK
- Story Text: French politicians clashed in the Senate on Thursday (December 8) over whether to let non-EU immigrants vote in local elections, with conservatives vowing to stamp out a left-wing initiative that many of them once said was a good idea.
The posturing and rhetoric in parliament showed how each side sought to signal its position on the sensitive matter of national identity to supporters, five months before a presidential election.
"We would lose out seriously if we allow a proliferation of lists of candidates running on foreign nationalities in order to attract votes. There is no more fertile ground for ethnic sectarianism than conferring the rights of universal suffrage on candidates tempted to play up their ethnic roots. I admit this is no certainty but I'm not ready to take the risk," Prime Minister Francois Fillon told lawmakers in a speech.
His left-wing opponents responded with a series of quotations from right-wing figures -- starting with President Nicolas Sarkozy himself -- who have spoken in favour of letting foreigners vote.
"I admit that I am not outrageously shocked by the idea to see foreigners, including those outside the European Community, to vote in regional and municipal elections providing they pay tax and respect our laws or they have been living on our territory'... I am citing texts by Mister Sarkozy," said the Greens party's Esther Benbassa, at the start of a speech that drew cheers, jeers and even some laughter from right-wing ranks.
The vote in the left-controlled Senate, the upper house of parliament, is more about making a point than changing the law. The bill has no chance of passing in a right-controlled lower house, pollsters say. It was abandoned once before, in 2000 for similar reasons.
Socialists and other left-wingers, emboldened by a historic victory over the right in Senate elections in September, say letting non-European Union citizens vote and get elected in municipal elections would soothe community tensions.
A change would also bring French law into line with EU members Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Britain, Spain and Portugal let some non-EU foreigners, most of them from former colonies, vote in some elections, while Italy, Germany and Austria share France's more restrictive current approach.
Outside the Senate, around fifty demonstrators gathered in support of a right to vote. Pauline, a French citizen, said she thought it normal for a foreigner to be able to elect a local representative.
"If they involve themselves in their towns' activities, live in a town, then they have the right to give their opinion, to participate in the decision-making and decide with their elected representatives," she said.
To France's ruling right, allowing a foreign and largely Muslim constituency to influence local policy would usher in halal meals at school cafeterias and women-only days at municipal swimming pools, controversial issues they say endanger the nation's secular tradition.
Even though the proposal is unlikely to become law, the subliminal issues are important.
Sarkozy's opposition is rooted in the need to guarantee support from far-right followers of Marine Le Pen, head of the National Front Party, in the presidential election's final round.
EU citizens have been allowed to vote in local and European elections since the Maastricht treaty was passed in 1992. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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