For once, there were no Pikachu and other Pokémon cards slipped into the ballot boxes by mischievous voters in Paris. No photomontage of Jacques Chirac, “chosen one of my heart”. Nor any condom stamped “short and tight”…
“We had very few invalid, blank, or tampered ballots,” summarizes Jérôme Coumet, the mayor (DVG) of the 13th arrondissement. People mobilized to go and vote, not to make jokes in the voting booth.” Jean-Pierre Lecoq, mayor (LR) of the 6th arrondissement, adds that in the polling stations of his arrondissement, “there was a serious atmosphere.” “Especially in Paris,” deciphers Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, mayor (EELV) of the 12th arrondissement. “We felt a strong mobilization to block the RN’s path. So useful votes, very few invalid ballots, no anecdotes, no jokes.”
Except, however, in one of the 64 offices in this 12th arrondissement, a religious card accompanied by a medal of the Virgin slipped into a blue envelope and stamped “O Mary, pray for us”. At Delphine Bürkli’s, the mayor (Horizon) of the 9th, there was an obscure Macron cut-up.
Valérie Montandon, elected LR of the 12th century, almost regrets this very meager harvest: “It could have brought a little lightness to this heavy period”. Or, according to Ariel Weil, the (PS) mayor of Paris Center, “a little relaxation in a deadly climate”…
This Monday, elected officials and office presidents expressed their astonishment. At each election, these old hands in the polling rooms watch, during the counting, sometimes laugh and finally throw in the trash these crazy, protesting, insolent, often creative ballots, considered null.
During the last presidential election of 2022, François Dagnaud, the mayor (PS) of the 19th century, noted “a rise in invalid and blank ballots”. Bulletins which, according to the elected official, “mean something, revealing tensions, frustrations, witnesses to the virulence, sometimes the violence of public debate. » So there was this “For the sake of emm… Le Pen, I vote black”, in an ebony black envelope. But also yellow bulletins, references to the Yellow Vests. Others crossed out with a “Neither collabo, nor fascist”… In a grating style, a voter had pasted a sample of fabric on his ballot: “My modest contribution to the purchase of Emmanuel Macron’s next cashmere” .
Sunday, in the 15th arrondissement; where there was 73% participation, “there were only 12 zero envelopes. Never seen ! » comments Jean-Yves Pinet, deputy mayor (LR). No idea to make jokes. Our country has never gone through such a crisis. »
