Right to vote in France

Any major French has the right to vote without reference of sex, origin, religion or political ideals. The right however envisages the possibility of matching a penal judgment of a prohibition which deprives the citizen of his right to vote for a limited time. This deprivation is however not automatic and one can enjoy the right to vote in prison. The nationals of the European Union are also authorized to vote in France with the European elections - as envisages it the European right - and with the municipal elections.

History of the right to vote

John Locke: separation of the capacities between Executive power and Legislative power;
Montesquieu (Of the spirit of the laws): separation between Executive power, Legislative power, and judicial Power;
Sieyès : National Assembly and project of Jury constitutionnaire for the conformity control of the laws to the natural Right fundamental;
1791 indirect vote censitaire ;

In 1791, the France is controlled by a Constitutional monarchy installation by the Constitution of September 14th, 1791. In this mode, Sovereignty belongs to the Nation but the right to vote is restricted. The vote is known as Censitaire; only the men of more than 25 years paying a Impôt direct (a Taxable quota) equal to the three days value of work have the right to vote. They are called “active citizens”. The others, the “passive citizens”, cannot take part in the elections. The vote is also indirect because the active citizens elect voters of the second degree, having higher incomes, which in their turn elect the deputies with the legislative National Assembly. After a short application of the vote for all male to elect the Convention in 1792, the vote censitaire and indirect is restored by the Directoire in 1795. There exist always voters of first and second degree. To be entitled to vote of the first degree, it is necessary to pay taxes or to have taken part in a military campaign. The voters of the second degree must be titular raised incomes, evaluated between 100 and 200 day's works according to the cases. In addition, to be elected, it is necessary to be 30 years old minimum to sit at the Council of the Five Hundreds and 40 years old for the Council of Old.

1799 male vote for all, but it is limited;
1815 return of the right to vote with the vote censitaire;
1830 the necessary taxable quota to have the right to vote is lowered by 1/3 (of 300F with 200F and age limit lowered by 30 to 25 years);
1848 male vote for all except for the soldiers, the abroad living French for whom it is necessary to be at least 21 years old;
1944 (on April 21st) right to vote granted to the women. The elections are done with the vote for all and return vote for all for the whole of the population after the second world war. The right to vote is also then granted to the French colonies at the time of the conference of Brazzaville where the de Gaulle General and the governors of the colonies are brought together. France fighting in Algiers grants the right to vote with the women, nearly one century after the adoption of the male vote for all. France is one of the last countries of Europe has to have granted the right to vote and of eligibility to the women, right before Italy, Belgium, Greece and Switzerland. The women will use of this right for the 1st time to the municipal elections of April 29th, 1945.
1945 (on August 17th) a little more than one year after the women, the military careers are the last French citizens to obtain the right to vote. Until there, the soldiers were excluded from the right to vote under pretext that they were not to take party in the political struggles (they still do not have however the right to adhere to a political party) . The Army thus will not be called any more the " Large Muette".
1946 right to vote extended to all the French of overseas by the Loi Rolls Guèye April 25th 1946, then by the Constitution of October 27th, 1946.

the vote for all takes finally all its direction because it is only as from 1946 (either approximately 150 years after its creation) that all the major French citizens without any exception can finally vote.

1974 age of the right to vote (or more exactly age of the majority) lowered by 21 to 18 years by V. Giscard-with Estaing.

1992 Right to vote the abroads originating in the European Union.

On the obligatory Vote discusses

obligatory Vote --> These last years, the votes tend to satisfy the citizens, thus moving away from this fundamental capacity of expression. Rates of participation are weak, therefore the representativeness is of as much. It results from it that a weak minority (from 25 to 50% in the most current cases) decides public affairs for the whole of the citizens.

The problem, these representatives, these active citizens, a representative sample or are modify can be here the real thoughts of the total people?

Two phenomena are posed indeed:

On a side, the extremes, increasingly noisier than the average masses, tends to arise, take more weight in the surveys that they do not represent any truly. He comes out from it an exaggerated listening of these minorities as well as an increase in republican instability (the Sondage S, reduced of the stabilizing weight of the number, tend to tend towards one of the two extremes which are Communism and nationalism). Thus a loss of representativeness and quality of the marked votes.
On another side, one can suppose that the minority voter is a lit minority, conscious and reflected, who votes in perfect full knowledge of the facts. It is certainly not representative of the absolute majority but has for only effect to thus increase the quality of the votes of their results, building, more intelligently than could not be able about it a massive vote, France and Europe of tomorrow.

Current antecedents and problems:

the public affairs tend to move away from the concerns of French.
the Abstention: up to 75%.
the representativeness of the expressed votes (democracy and legitimacy of the political power are called in question?).
the quality of the votes?

In France, the inscription on the electoral rolls is obligatory, but the participation in the polls is not it.

The only exception to this rule relates to the election of the senators, elected by a special college of Great Electors, who, in accordance with the provisions of the article L 318 of the Electoral code, have the obligation to take part in the poll under penalty of fine of 100 € .

To counter the abstention, several members of Parliament agreed to say that it would be necessary to set up an obligatory voting system. In parallel, according to a Ipsos survey of March 2004, 62% of French estimate that the vote must become obligatory.

One cannot also deny that to make the vote obligatory caused to reduce the rate of abstention, by looking at the figures of Australia in this field: the rate of abstention was of 40% in 1922, but after the installation of the vote of obligatory, the share of the abstentionnists fell to 8%. However, this fall is partly only one lure, because in this same country, the share of the blank votes or null increased enormously. The result is thus the same one with final because the person voter not are not simply people not finding their satisfaction near the political representatives. To make the vote obligatory it would thus be necessary to set up a sanction: a statement (p.v.). But that could destabilize French and cause an increase in the blank votes (as in Australia), null or extremists as a demonstration. However, to make the vote obligatory would not be to call into question the principle of the democracy, as well as individual freedom of each one?

The bishops of France came to a conclusion about the subject, here what they say: “ the vote is a duty of citizen. Even imperfect, the democracy is a chance offered. , We do not waste it do not conceal. Let us be however vigilant: the fact of voting does not release from the usual participation in the life of the city. The community property claims the engagement of each one. It is true that our room for maneuver of citizen is very narrow: but it is the place of our responsibility to the daily newspaper. It is necessary that we bring to our democracy a supplement of heart and to our fellow-citizens an opening to universal the ” (Monseigneur Favreau, bishop of Nanterre).

Notes and references of the article

Random links: