“JI’ll have to come back to work on Saturday to enter the last proxies.” There is no doubt that this town hall employee in Puget-Théniers did not think she would spend her Saturday June 29 like this. A dissolution of the National Assembly and a calling of early legislative elections later, the situation changed for her. For town hall employees, it’s time for proxies.
From the high country to the coast, on the Côte d’Azur as in all of France, these proxies have experienced a boom since June 9. The two million mark was crossed on Wednesday evening, leaving in the rearview mirror the score of the 2022 presidential election (1,965,000), over a very short period of time. Better: compared to the last legislative elections, the number of proxies between D-20 and D-5 has increased by 5.8!
“Citizen’s duty”
Without reaching such proportions, the progression is clear in the Alpes-Maritimes. This Thursday at 3 p.m., 8,700 proxies had already been registered in Nice, compared to 6,300 in 2022 and 2,500 in the European elections. In Antibes, there were 1,984 on Wednesday, compared to 779 in 2022. In Menton, we have already gone from 480 to 750. And in Grasse, the ratio has been multiplied by 7.5 (from 126 proxies to 936!).
These figures are reflected at the entrance to police stations, where queues are stretching to register one’s proxy. Thus at Foch, in Nice-centre, this Thursday. Tony, Magali, Mady, Dany, Hugo… Students, working or retired, they all have in common that they will be absent on July 7, or even as early as Sunday. “It is our duty as citizens to vote, as always.” “It’s the minimum, it’s part of education.”
Blocking or extending momentum
For Delphine, 49, it is “unthinkable not to vote”. Whatever the election. Nevertheless, “There, it’s super important. Aberrant thing: we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Landing, and two weeks later, a kind of slightly nauseating smell returns. That worries me…” Delphine doesn’t hide it, she wants to block the RN. And for her 18th birthday, it’s her daughter who takes her power of attorney: “She is all the more motivated!”
Since June 9, online power of attorney sites, which connect principals and agents, have been stormed. Overwhelmed, planprocu.fr has temporarily stopped registrations. It is passing the buck to maprocuration.gouv.fr.
Question of trust
Some voters prefer to rely on party networks. In Nice, LFI received nearly a hundred online proxies, reports Marine Vengeon, an activist in charge of social networks. “We get requests from all sides: people who don’t have friends or neighbors available, or who don’t necessarily trust the government platform.”
Will this influx of proxies just compensate for vacation departures? Or does it augur a marked increase in participation? Answer Sunday.
