The June 7, he will spend a lot of things. In France, Mother's Day . In the EU, we will vote for the European Parliament (well some odd countries like Ireland have already voted before). And Stuttgart, there will be municipal elections .
And it's all very interesting ... As a citizen of the Union but from other countries resident in Stuttgart, I have the right to:
- vote for Parliament in my country of origin or, if I so request, Stuttgart (Note that no check will be done to know if I did not vote twice, once in France and once in Germany, but I am on my honor not to cheat)
- vote in municipal elections in Stuttgart.
Note that foreigners from countries not members of the European Union, even here and even residents who work for a very long time (even Nès here of foreign parents) may not have the right to vote (even if I have not necessarily followed). Anyway I'm super special :-)
And these elections I'll talk to you. Before returning to France on June 7, I was annoyed because I thought gee, I could not take the opportunity to vote here. And I do not really see that I could reasonably give proxy here. But the Germans have planned everything, including voting and no correspondence. It's simple: you get one day a paper in the mail that says you can vote, and if you return it by checking the appropriate box, you send the documents to vote by mail. Full of beautiful papers I am going to present. It'll be passing the opportunity to discover how walking the municipal elections here.
What you get when you want to vote by mail is a large envelope with lots of things inside. Including two small yellow envelopes. One that will be used to refer everything when we have voted (no need to free is to practice).
And another yellow envelope, while symbolic and moving, which is the real thing envelope to vote, in which it glides his ballot (voting, because your notes from the first quarter of Sixth interest actually little to no parental authority, it must be said).
You get on top of that leaf (yellow, again!) To sign to certify that it 'really me and not my brother or my enemy who has voted, or that it's me with the help another person who vote because I could not do it alone. And another instruction sheet, which resembles a manual for an electronic device, with nice colors, and explains that he must put the ballot in the blue envelope and the envelope in blue red envelope . Except that no bowl, the two envelopes are yellow.
Someone will probably forget to update the instruction sheet from the last vote. No bowl.
And that famous newsletter, looks like he?
All entries are exactly the same format and presented in a (big) book whose pages may be detached to select the newsletter you want. Each list is entitled to a long page, and coverage of the book recalls how one can vote.
And that's where it gets fun. I try to summarize the principle. This is
elect 60 members of the council , and each voter has 60 votes . Yes, 60. We can give all its votes to a list, or distribute between members of different lists. If so, you can either drag multiple lists in the envelope and cross out the names people for whom we do not want to vote, or not drag a form and add the names of other people who you want to vote. Jusuqe it is not unlike what happens in villages or small towns in France.
But that's not all. We do not have to choose 60 people to whom we want to give them 60 votes. It can also distribute the votes otherwise, and give each candidate 1, 2 or 3 votes by placing a cross or a 1, 2 or 3 in the box next to each name. We have the right to give less than 60 votes in total, but not allowed to give more than 60.
What promises sessions counting absolutely fascinating ...
I'm not going to show you all the lists because it is a bit long, but I give you the list anyway ...
- CDU, the conservative majority now,
- SPD, the Social Democrats in second position (the colors are a little French because both like to come in red actually)
- Die Grünen short, the greens, 3rd and strong growth in 2004, and this time that he will-I-am-on-demand ...
- Freie Wahler, voters free! People who came together on a list without being party members. They are quite important in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria
- FDP, the liberal
- Die Republikaner , even the very conservative right-wing extremists,
- Die Linke, the very left,
- An independent group Stuttgart Ökologisch Sozial ,
- a list that has only 26 members but a funny name: Allianz Graue Panther und Freunde , gray panthers and their friends!
- Weltaktion , a list that matters ... one and only one member.
Note well the free space below to add names of other lists, and box to the right of each name to set the number of votes.
As you can see, the vote is very personal, since one can really choose from the list that will be voices who will not. And the discussions that we have in the office, it seems that people do not hesitate to select carefully the one who has one, two or three votes, and those who will not. By what criteria? And especially in a big city, how do you put a head on all these names? That's what I'll try to show you ... but in a subsequent message, because it starts to get long.