France voters cast their ballots in municipal elections on Sunday expected to see the lowest turnout in decades, after the mounting coronavirus toll forced the government to close all bars, restaurants and other non-essential businesses in a bid to limit the outbreak.
Despite anti-infection precautions in place at roughly 35,000 voting stations, many people appear to be staying at home as advised by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in a televised address Saturday night. As of 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) only 38.8 percent of registered voters had participated, compared with 54.5 percent in the last municipal vote six years ago, the interior ministry said.
Two polling institutes later forecast that turnout would reach just 45 percent by the time the last voting stations close at 1900 GMT. The government rejected calls to postpone the vote, saying sufficient measures had been taken to limit the virus's spread.
"It is important to vote in these times, while being careful and respecting these rules," President Emmanuel Macron said after washing his hands with sanitising gel and casting his ballot in northern France. "A minimum of daily life, which allows us to go find food or vote while respecting these rules, must continue," he said.
But many people questioned the wisdom of maintaining the vote for mayors and some half-a-million local councillors, especially if the crisis worsens ahead of the second round of voting next Sunday. Several voters who did turn out wore surgical masks or disposable gloves, and many brought their own pens or bottles of gel.
The streets of Paris were eerily empty, its usually bustling restaurants and cafe terraces shuttered under emergency measures announced hours before polls opened. France is one of the European countries hit hardest by the virus, with some 4,500 out of 150,000 confirmed global infections and 91 of more than 5,700 deaths worldwide.
"One must vote," Bernard Gallis, 66, told AFP upon leaving an otherwise empty polling station in Aulnay-Sous-Bois outside Paris in the morning. "There is no one here, and the risk is low," he said, gesturing towards the balloting station where his wife and six officials seated at tables laden with political party pamphlets were the only other people. But Gallis said his children, aged 40, 36, and 32, were not planning to vote because of the virus risk.
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