21.03.2014 Rroma in Saint-Denis can vote

In Saint-Denis, a verdict was reached concerning the dispute around the right to vote of a local Rroma group. The socialist candidate Mathieu Hanotin had filed a complaint at the local district court, wanting to clarify the legitimacy of the voting rights of the Rroma in question, which where accused of not possessing a residency permit. The acting communist mayor of Saint-Denis, Didier Paillard, successfully rejected the allegations of Hanotins that the registration of the Rroma was a case of electoral manipulation. The legitimacy of the electoral rights of the Rroma group has now been confirmed by the local district court, which rejected Hanotin’s complaint as inadmissible. The complaint should have been filed within a period of ten days after the publication of the list of voters: “They [the Rroma ] were very moved by the polemic. This judgment is very important because it means that they can vote. It is a pride for them and us, the unions, Agnès Cluzel from the local collective in support of the Rroma announced.” It is said to be a pity that the court didn’t judge over the actual point of question, the residency permit. Saint-Denis is the last city with over 100,000 inhabitants, which has a communist mayor (Libération 2014, RTL 2014 Thréard 2014).

Villa (2014) points out in his article that Manuel Valls’ circular from July 25th 2013 is unconstitutional. In it, Valls encourages to exclude European nationals without permanent residence of the French mayoral elections. The French league for human rights (LDH) therefore calls for the invalidation of the circular: “All citizens have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. For that purpose, the exercise of the right to vote in the mayoral elections and the European elections is recognised for all citizens of the European Union, no matter in which member state they reside and with the same rights as citizens of that state.”

Gilman (2014) discusses in his article the efforts of the collective for solidarity with the Rroma of Roubaix. The collective has put together a list of questions for the candidates as mayor of Roubaix, based on the declaration of human rights and the rights of children declaration. Thus, the candidates are expected to express their views on the situation of the Rroma in Roubaix. In response to the submission of the questions two weeks ago, so far only two of the ten candidates have replied: Jean-Pierre Legrand and Philippe Delannoy. – This is astonishing in so far, as the Rroma have been a central topic of the mayoral campaigns so far, being instrumentalized as a reference in opposition to bourgeois values.