Consular Elections in France

Another step forward in the French online voting experience

On 29 and 30 May 2021, France held elections for French councillors and delegates abroad (conseiller des Français de l’étrangerand délegués consulaires). For the second time since this institution was set up in 2013, French voters abroad, this year totalling 1,366,663, were called upon to appoint 443 councillors and 68 delegates by universal, secret, and direct suffrage in 130 different electoral districts all over the world.

Voters could vote online (during the advanced voting period, from Friday, 21 May to Wednesday, 26 May) or in polling stations on election day, either by themselves or by appointing a proxy. For these reasons, the elections have been considered by some members of the French Senate as “particularly complex to organise.” However, online voting is not a new channel for French voters abroad.

Online (and electronic) voting in French elections

France is among the world’s pioneers in Internet voting use. Online voting in France dates back to 2003, with the passing of the first law allowing the use of this channel for the elections to the High Council of French Citizens Abroad (Conseil supérieur des Français de l’étranger), a representative body specific to French citizens abroad and created under the mandate of art. 24 of the French Constitution. The High Council of French Citizens Abroad later became the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad (Assemblée des Français de l’étranger, AFE) in 2004 and, subsequently, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried out its first two AFE elections with online voting in 2006 and 2009.

Nowadays, remote electronic voting is offered as an additional voting channel for French voters abroad in several elections. For example, they can cast a remote electronic vote for 11 seats in the elections to the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale): the directly elected lower house of the French parliament, with 577 seats total. Similarly, the elections of the French councillors and delegates abroad, which were first held in 2014, have made use of online voting technology from the start.

For the elections to the National Assembly, a constitutional amendment passed in 2008 introduced the 11 seats that are elected by voters residing abroad. In 2012, these voters had the possibility to vote online for these seats for the first time. However, in 2017 this possibility was halted due to concerns of foreign cyber threats. The French councillors and delegates abroad, on the other hand, are based at each embassy with a consular district and at each consular post, and were first elected in May 2014 for a six-year term.

In addition to internet voting, French legislation has also regulated the use of voting machines, which have been used in some municipalities (communes) since 1969. Important criticism about the functioning of these voting machines during the 2007 presidential elections resulted in the government imposing a moratorium on the number of municipalities that could use this technology (limiting it to those that already had them). In addition to voting in person at polling station, and voting online or electronically on a machine, voters in France and in overseas “collectivities” and departments can vote in some cases by post and by proxy (i.e., authorising someone to vote on their behalf).

The institutions of French citizens living abroad

But who are these councillors and delegates and what is their role? The institution of French councillors and delegates abroad was introduced in 2013 by a law on the representation of French citizens abroad. The law entrusts Consular councils with advising on questions of consular or general interest, particularly in cultural, educational, economic, and social affairs concerning French citizens living in their district.

In turn, these councillors and delegates vote for the representation of French citizens abroad at the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad and for 11 members of the French parliament’s upper house, the Sénat.

The (long) road towards the 2021 online Consular elections in France

Ahead of the election, the online voting system underwent a series of intrusion tests and security audits, covering both its architecture and source code. Risk assessments were also conducted, following the recommendations of the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information, ANSSI).

The system was also subject to two large-scale User Acceptance Tests (UAT) in July and November 2019. During the second UAT, that took place between 22 and 26 November, 12,943 voters abroad could test the system. Following their experience, 84.2% of the participants reported that they had not found any difficulties in voting online. The system was then certified on 15 January 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic, however, forced the French government to postpone the elections. Initially, they were rescheduled for June 2020, but were moved to May 2021. In turn, the elections of the members of the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad and the elections to the French Senate were also postponed until June and September 2021, respectively. Consequently, all candidates registered and the authorisations to vote by proxy were cancelled and the electoral process had to begin anew.

Online voting, more participation?

In the end, the councillor and delegate elections were held in May 2021: online from Friday, May 21, to Wednesday, May 26, and on election day on Saturday, May 29 (in America and the Caribbean), and Sunday, May 30 (in the rest of the world).

The results published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs show a clear support for the online voting channel: out of the 205,865 votes cast (representing 15% of all eligible voters), more than 85% were cast electronically (176,734 votes). This proportion represents a sharp increase when compared to the 2014 elections (when only 43.26% of all votes were cast online) and confirms the trend of increased online participation observed since the introduction of online voting in 2006.

As a matter of fact, it is easy to explain the lower online voting participation in 2014: the elections to French councillors and delegates abroad were held at the same time as the elections to the European Parliament, for which it was not possible to vote online, and thus voters had to vote in polling stations. Taking this into account, it is rather surprising that almost half of the votes were cast electronically.

At the same time, the decrease in overall turnout between the 2021 and 2014 elections (when 20.85% French voters abroad participated in the election) should not come as a surprise: first because, as noted, the 2014 elections were held alongside the elections to the European Parliament, which may have motivated voters to participate in both elections.

Second, and if we consider the persistence of the pandemic at the time of the election, it is likely that many voters did not feel comfortable with voting at all. As a matter of fact, the decrease in turnout during the municipal elections (the first round being held in March 2020 and the second round postponed to June) showed a decrease in turnout of close to 20 points. Taking into account the risk of infection in countries such as India, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or the United States during the last weeks of May, the lower turnout is not difficult to understand.

The 2021 election did prove that there is a need for online voting technology in these elections, and that, if offered, it will be used. The election marks another important step forward in ensuring secure and accessible voting methods for French citizens abroad.

This article was written by Adrià Rodríguez Pérez, Public Policy Researcher at Scytl.