France considers immigrant right to vote
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The leader of France's left-wing opposition party has re-ignited debate in the country about whether to give immigrants the vote.
In an effort to remind President Sarkozy of a campaign pledge he made, Martine Aubry, leader of the opposition Socialist Party said, “Sarkozy was in favour so let him encourage his supporters to vote in favour, then we will be able to say it is a law passed by the entire French republic.”
One Socialist Member of Parliament told Network Europe’s John Laurenson that “foreigners living in France are being stigmatised more and more and we should no longer put up with it.”
The bill, which was presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday, has also drawn sharp criticism from other quarters of the French parliament.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan heads the small nationalist party Debout la République. He said: “I’m totally hostile to this idea because to me citizenship and the right to vote go with French nationality.”
Secretary-General of President Sarkozy’s UMP Party Xavier Bertrand said: “As far as the president of the republic is concerned, he said at the time that he would be in favour of giving the vote to foreigners if their own countries agreed to do the same thing. That is why the UMP is against.”
The bill comes in light of the recent government-sponsored debate concerning national identity, which has exposed anti-immigrant as well as anti-Islam sentiment in some quarters of French society. The Socialist-led opposition has thus far refused to enter the debate and has accused the government of pandering to the sentiments of the far right.
