French Elections.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7, 17 February 1906, Page 11

French Elections.

HOW VOTES AKE I’OINTF.D AND CHECKED—SIMPLICITY OF METHOD. Although Fiance lives, so far as political corruption is concerned, in a gla»t house, from which it would be imprudent to cast the smallest pebble of reproach at any neighbour, it is nevertheless a fact that her electoral .method.' are singularly pure and above board. A principal reason jor this is that a French election, whether to the chambers or to the municipal council, is from first to last entirely under public control in all its essential conditions. France, as knows, is governed by universal suffrage. The nation is its own sovereign. Every Frenchman who has attained the age of twen-ty-one has a right to a municipal vote if he can prove six months’ residence in his native commune previous to th? closing of the electoral lists, or a year’s residence if he has merely married into the c-emmune. or two years’ residence if. without being a native of the locality, he puts in a written claim to vote. The fact of having paid direct taxes for a year in any given commune also gives him a vote. Every citizen who can prove six months’ residence has a political vote for the elections to the Chamber. No soldier on active service may vote either for the Municipal Council or the Chamber of Deputies, and any sentence tor crime or misdemeanour deprives the citizen of his voting rights until he has secured legal rthaml.tation or has profited by an amnesty. Elections to the Senate are by restrict suffrage. The electoral college, as it is called, that is to say, the corps of voters, consists of the deputies of the particular department in wb.ie'.i the election takes place, the Councillors General (equivalent to Congressmen), and a delegate from the Municipal Council of each commune. The municipal elections in France are everywhere conducted cn precisely the same plan. Paris decs net differ from the smallest provincial eon mune ’ in this particular. The s-y.-t-. m is simplicity itself. A month befoie the cl ?c--tionic are Jo take plnce th • ev -nt i> publicly' anneundeff by in an < <f white posters, and a list of electors is opened at the local uia’rie (mansion house). Every person who fulfils the voting qualifications is free to go to th M ii i ?, and, having produced evidence of bi? identity, he is. duly inscribed on The voting lists, and after the lapse of a few clays he either Tetehes his Rector’s card or it ;s brought to him at'his own,--residence- by one of the Mayor’s employees, -a V In the case c,f Paris, the card is coffee coloure’d, about four inches long and three bread, and is b rrecl by a b'ue an I red stripe, the colours of th? citv of Paris. It bears on one side, in addition to the number of the voter’s inscription cn the voting sheet, the number of th? electoral section or the n uniclpai constituency to.which he belong 1 , the place where the- voting .’will be held, the signature of the voter, his Christian and surnames, the date of his birth, his profession and address, and the signature of the Mayor, the date, and the stamp of the Mairie. On the reverse side are the words :"Republique Francaise, J.L berte, Egalite, el Fra ternite, Carte d’Electeur.” The elate and hour at which the election is to take place are given, and the* voter is informed that his voting paper must lie prepared at home; must be of white hue, and must contain no exterior marks, beyond the name written or printed of the candidate l for whom he wishes to vote. Any addition in-writing nullities the vote. Along the left edge of the elector’s card is a, counterfoil, divided diagonally by a red line-, the triangular sections Femg market “A” and "B.” As soon as the lists in each section arc closed they are comnninieated to tin l Prefecture of th-? Seine, and a careful comparison is made between them, which prevents any citizen from easting a double l vote. Copies are then sent to the various se?- ' t ioiis. The' polling takes place from. H o’clock ih th. l morning till Mi o’clock in ""the evening. Outside tile polling stations, which are, as a rule, the local mairie, or the schoolroom. electioneering agents arc* stationed, who di:, ribikte voting bulletins, printed with the nniheN of .the candidates whom they represent. InAide’is a ‘table Covered with 4»reen baize, on which is an oblong box. also covered with green cloth, and with a - .lit in the cfcrtlre of the lid.' Thia ii

<»flicially _ (ailed the “urn.” The sole function of the police in a French election is to preserve order in the polling station. The first electors arrive constitute the ••bureau.” Thus all official interference with the proceedings is avoided. Three volunteers take possession of the “urn” and of the Txt of voters in the |»artieular section, and as each elector presents himself they compare his card with the ii>t and cut off from the edge of it one of the triangular divisions. The division marked “B” is retained in view of a possible second ballot. The voting piper, of bulletin. as it ’called, is taken by thb “assessor” in" the right hand, and then transferred to bis left hand to be dropped into the urn. It is thus visible to all present that only one vote at a time is registered. At C o’clock volunteers arc called for from among the electors prese.’t to c hint the votes. This operation takes place in public, and is performed by the public. All possibility of cheating is thu y avoided. It is said that in th? South of France, in the exuberant “Midi” of Tartarin, urns with false bottoms have sometimes been used for the purpose of falsifying results but this is hardly credible. The French law pu iishes electoral fraud with gf;at severity, the penalty varying between three months, and two years’ imprisonment. As soon as the count has been made

(lie urn is sealed up and disputdicd to the local Prefecture, where a comininxion sits (•» verify the count, and if nerex.-wry. to rectify it. ’i’he c*»rrecti<*n rarely makes a difference of mere 4haii two or three in the total. The election always takes place on a Sunday, and it is only on the following Friday that the official results arc declared. After this the figure cannot be challenge.l excep* by an appeal to the Council of State, a body which is practically equivalent of the Supreme Court of the C’nited States, and this is a very onrroiu and* expensive proce-x. In (he case of elections to the ( ham her. the successful candidate does not legally bccc.me a Deputy until his election has hen n “validated” by bis col leagues. Invalidation, which is general ly pronounced <»n the ground of bribery or uiiihic influence, involves a new ploc lion, though it is in the power of the Chamber to pronounce the candidate who figured second on the polling list as duly elected. 'This was done in the Gas? of Joffrin. the antagonist of the late General Boulanger. {During the elections the candidates are forbidden to use white posters, which arc reserved exclusively fjr Government proclamations. and recently the tricolour has a’so been tabooed. The French system Ci’ voting iJ' exactly the same as that which has Iwen adopted in Switzerland, what it meant.