Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 5:34 p.m., August 30, 2023, modified at 11:06 p.m., August 30, 2023
This Monday, two days before the meeting between Emmanuel Macron and the party leaders, Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson, also in charge of democratic renewal, raised the possibility of future “preferendums” intended to consult the French on multiple subjects simultaneously.
Photos banned, journalists kept away, impossibility of communicating with the outside world… The meeting between Emmanuel Macron and the party leaders, which takes place on Wednesday at the Legion of Honor education center in Saint- Denis, near Paris, claims the most total confidentiality. For now, it seems almost impossible to determine what will come out of it. But this Tuesday, government spokesman Olivier Véran, also in charge of democratic renewal, unveiled the first outlines of a possible new democratic tool: the “preferendum”.
On BFMTV, the former Minister of Health made a point of clarifying: “I am not saying that this is what is on the table”, he declared in particular, while recalling that “no door [n’était] closed”. By using the preferendum, the government would opt for a tool allowing “to test several subjects at the same time during the same vote”, indicates Olivier Véran, evoking “multiple questions” asked of the French. “The reproach what we often do in a referendum is that we say that the French vote for or against whoever asks the question. Perhaps by asking several questions, people will be able to let go of an item and be able to answer all the other questions on the merits”, argues the person concerned.
Asking several questions during a referendum is possible
The concrete form that this new tool could take is still far from being decided. “This is what we will have to discuss with the party leaders,” says Olivier Véran. In the meantime, the question of the constitutionality of such an initiative already arises. On this point, the horizon seems clear for the government insofar as article 11 of the Constitution, which regulates the use of referendums, does not prohibit submitting several questions to the French.
On the other hand, a referendum is traditionally organized after the elaboration of a law previously discussed between the two assemblies. “In this case, it is for the French people to ratify it, to say whether they agree or disagree”, summarizes Anne-Charlène Bezzina, lecturer in public law at the University of Rouen. However, the device, mentioned by Olivier Véran, seems to deviate from this classic legislative process. “Basically, it looks a bit like citizen conventions, a big poll,” said the constitutionalist.
“There is no commitment at all”
Rather than answering “yes” or not “no”, the French could be led to deliver broader answers: “Favorable”, “Unfavourable”, “Urgent”, “Not urgent”, etc… “Or when you make the French people say that, there is no commitment at all”, notes Anne-Charlène Bezzina. Clearly, there is no need for the executive to draft a law related to the results of these preferences. “I fear that we are in something which does not have the virtues of the referendum”, completes the specialist. In addition, there are possible organizational difficulties around these referendums of a new kind. “There should be ballot boxes for Yes, for No, for ‘Do not decide’ etc”, she illustrates.
As for the themes that could be put to the vote, the vagueness also persists. Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, urges the head of state to hold a referendum on immigration. However, this subject does not appear in those listed by article 11 of the Constitution. To circumvent the obstacle, Olivier Véran thus evoked the hypothesis of a “pre-referendum”, in other words a large national consultation around subjects “which cannot be the subject of a referendum according to the Constitution “.
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