Judit Takács

Although the focus of our project is the effects of COVID-19 on the electoral systems of the V4 countries, it is worth mentioning that not Hungary was the only European country which held general elections in April 2022. Among others (Serbia, Slovenia) France also conducted its presidential election the same month. The first round of the two-staged election was organised on 10 April, while the second round took place on 24 April. France plays a significant role in Europe and the European Union, so it is beneficial to compare which aspects of the election it handled similarly to or differently from the V4 countries that have also conducted general elections since the beginning of the pandemic.

Just like Hungary, France also held its first general elections in April since the appearance of COVID-19, but it makes a difference that othervise, France still had some experience regarding the special conditions caused by the virus, as it had held municipal elections in 2020 and regional elections in 2021, both resulting in a very law voter turnout mostly due to the pandemic. The measurement of political apathy’s impact to these figures should not be assessed here.

Contrary to the municipal and the regional elections, the public health circumstances of the 2022 election were remarkably different. In the second half of February 2022 several European countries started to ease their COVID-19 restrictions, after the number of new coronavirus cases had started to decrease worldwide. By 14 March France had also lifted most of its coronavirus related measures. For example, mandatory indoor mask-wearing in public places had been cancelled, with the exception that passengers on public transport and visitors in hospitals and care homes were still required to wear them.

Nonetheless, the country introduced some election related regulations to ensure the safe conduct of the voting. These included providing personal protective equipment and quick tests for the polling staff and also for those voters who explicitely requested them. In addition, the polling staff was expected to make sure that the voters keep social distance as well. However, there were no special regulations regarding those voters who had tested positive for the virus or were under quarantine. They could attend the polling stations just like others, this should be attributed probably to the globally perceptible easement of quarantine regulations. By other words, under the changed circumstances, voting rights now outweighed public health concerns, as the spokesman of the French Government confirmed: according to one of his interviews, the reason behind the decision was that „voting is a constitutional right, so nothing can prohibit a person from voting”.

Compared to those V4 countries which conducted general elections after the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 or 2021, such as Poland on 28 June 2020 and the Czech Republic on 8-9 October 2021, France applied much less strict regulations during the election. Whilst in Poland and the Czech Republic wearing masks or using hand sanitizer were compulsory for voters, in France they were only recommended. In this regard the French measures were much more similar to the ones that were in place in Hungary on election day on 3 April 2022. However, Hungary had a different solution to the problem of the people infected by the virus or under quarantine. According to the law in Hungary, COVID-infected or supposedly infected people have been  granted the right to require mobile ballot box, and the National Election Committee ensured that this applies to contact people as well. Considering the risk of spreading the virus, the Hungarian version is a safer alternative, as it guarantees the right to vote for COVID-19 infected people without risking that others catch the virus in the polling stations from them.

Though there were no strict health measures in force during the French election, and it is also questionable whether the country provided any viable voting alternative to those people who had tested positive for COVID-19, there was no significant increase in the number of new coronavirus cases shortly after neither election day. In addition, the voter turnout was pretty similar to the 2017 presidential election too. In the first round the voter turnout was 72 percent in 2022 and 76 percent in 2017, whilst in the second round it was 66 percent in 2022 and 2017 as well.

From the publich health experience of the recent French elections, the changing balance of voting rights and public health concerns should be highlighted. When provedly infected voters should appear in a polling station, this causes obviously considerable risk for the physical health of other participating voters. Nevertheless, in the light of our rapidly increasing knowledge of the virus, the growing proportion of vaccinations, and the less alleged risks of latest virus variants, the French rules neglect the publich health concerns, and give priority to the electoral participation of citizens over the enforcement of pandemic-related isolation rules.

April 2022

__________________________________________________________

The views expressed above belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centre for Social Sciences.