ペン持参して、列は１メートル間隔で…新型コロナ流行下で地方選、フランス

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】手を洗いましたか、マスクは外して、ペンを持ってきましたか――新型コロナウイルスの感染が広がるフランスで15日に行われる地方選では、投票所で有権者がこうした問いに答える必要が生じそうだ。（写真は資料写真）
　フランスではこれまでに約１８００人の感染が確認され、３３人が死亡した。だが、政府は選挙を決行する構えだ。市町村長と各地方議会議員を選ぶ今回の選挙は、エマニュエル・マクロン大統領にとって、政権運営の中間試験といえる重要な試金石となる。
　「手袋やマスクをして、髪の毛はまとめて、それでも投票に来てください！」と右派のエリック・ブルト議員は１０日、テレビで訴えた。大規模集会の禁止や中止勧告を受け、候補者らは選挙集会の開催を中止。政治家らは国民への投票呼び掛けに余念がない。
　だが、調査会社Ｉｆｏｐが７日に発表した世論調査では、新型ウイルスに感染する恐れがあるため投票に行かないかもしれないと答えた人は回答者の２８％に上り、大都市ほど割合が高かった。
　仏当局は１０日、感染リスクを抑えるための「厳格な予防策」を発表。クリストフ・カスタネール内相は、「投票に行くのは危険ではない」と強調した。
　各投票所には、投票ブースや投票箱の小まめな消毒、手洗い所やアルコール消毒液の設置などが求められている。一方でカスタネール内相は、「手を洗いたがらない有権者がいても、投票を拒んではならない。投票の正統性を損なう恐れがある」とも述べている。
　有権者には、速やかに投票を済ませて投票所を離れ、行列を作らないことが推奨されている。投票所の床には線を引いて、人々が１メートル間隔をキープするよう徹底する。
　各自が投票用紙に記入するためのペンを持参することも認められた。南部モンペリエでは、ペンの使い回しを避けるため市長が新たに３２万本のペンを発注した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/13-12:22）

Have you washed their hands? Would you kindly remove your face mask? And did you bring your own pen?
In addition to deciding who to vote for, these are the questions French voters may face when they go to the polls in local elections Sunday.
The nationwide vote is taking place under anything but normal conditions, with France battling the coronavirus that has already killed 33 and infected almost 1,800 in the country.
Yet the government has insisted that the elections -- seen as an important midterm test for President Emmanuel Macron -- will go ahead.
A slew of measures has been announced to reassure voters, with the virus threatening to lead to a lower turnout if people decide it is safer to stay home.
Come vote with gloves, hair nets or masks, but come vote! rightwing lawmaker Eric Woerth said on French television Tuesday, joining a chorus of politicians urging people to turn out.
France's 35,000 mayors are among the country's most respected public officials, but even in these races voter participation has been dwindling over the past three decades.
An Ifop poll released Sunday found that 28 percent of respondents might stay home because of the coronavirus risk, a figure that was even higher in larger cities.
Candidates have cancelled campaign rallies after large public gatherings were prohibited or strongly discouraged, although the government has rejected calls to postpone the vote.
On Tuesday, officials unveiled rigorous protective measures to limit the contagion risks, with Interior Minister Christophe Castaner insisting that voting is not dangerous.
- Bring your own pen -
Officials have been told to disinfect voting booths and ballot boxes throughout the day, and sinks and hand gels will be made available.
However, the right to vote cannot be refused to someone who refuses to wash their hands, since it could undermine the vote's legitimacy, the interior ministry said.
People will be urged to get in and out quickly to avoid lines, and floor markings will be laid out to ensure they stay one metre (3.3 feet) from one another.
If someone is wearing a mask, officials can ask them to remove it for an ID check if necessary.
Authorities have already eased proxy voting rules for people at risk or infected with coronavirus and ordered to confine themselves to their homes, as well as for people in retirement homes.
People can also come with their own pens for marking ballots -- the mayor of Montpellier, for his part, has ordered 320,000 pens so that voters will not have to share.
- Affect results? -
Analysts said that the virus could not just hit the turnout, but also skew the outcome of the vote, which is set to have a second round on March 22.
Interrupted campaigns and a higher abstention rate -- which reached 36.5 percent in the first round of 2014, the highest since 1983 -- could bolster incumbents, already well known to local voters.
That could reinforce local parties who disagree with the head of state, said Jean-Daniel Levy, a director at the polling firm Harris Interactive.
Rightwing parties were the main winners in the municipals six years ago, and the far-right National Rally beat Macron's centrists in last year's European Parliament elections.
But lower turnout because of coronavirus fears would hurt conservative parties the most, since they tend to attract older voters most vulnerable to contagion, he said.
- 'More and more say no' -
France has traditionally relied on volunteers to assist with voting and the official ballot counts, and virus fears could keep more people than usual from stepping up.
In Marseille, a city hall official said that for now, retractions have been marginal, and parties have called for new volunteers.
Mayor Gerard Collomb of Lyon, however, was more cautious, telling AFP that there are more and more people who say no to helping out with counts.
And in the Alps commune of La Balme-de-Sillingy, where a cluster of the first coronavirus cases broke out, the mayor himself was hospitalised after testing positive.
Francois Daviet's town has since ground to a halt, with shops desperate for clients and many schools closed.
I hope that people will go out and vote, he said, adding he was confident of finding the 20 controllers needed.