Since some consider electoral mandates as interchangeable, display a total contempt for citizens, and disregard the commitments made, here are two simple proposals aimed at moralizing public life.
We have seen a candidate, a significant one, get elected in the presidential election and implement a policy contrary to their campaign commitments. The disappointment and disgust stirred among the voters matched the hopes raised and continue to fuel the rejection of the entire political class.
We now see a candidate get elected in a municipal election, promising the implementation of a program for the entire duration of the mandate, then leave midway to pursue another election, this time a regional one, also promising there to implement a program for a full term, only to not complete this second mandate either and return to the first…
Such practices strip politics of all credibility and validate abstentionism. Mandates are not interchangeable, and an electoral candidacy is a moral commitment to the citizens.
We also see a candidate renounce their mandate for personal and family convenience, without justifying with exceptional circumstances or a case of force majeure.
One cannot claim to serve the general interest by discarding mandates and commitments at one’s whim.
Since the non-cumulation of mandates is circumvented even before it comes into effect, since the proposal for the revocation of elected officials is inoperative in this case, and since the elected officials in question do not seem to feel bound by their moral commitments to the voters, I submit two proposals to contribute to the moralization of public life:
1. That an elected official who voluntarily does not complete their mandate and does not justify it with a case of force majeure or exceptional circumstances should reimburse the entirety of the compensation received for that mandate.
2. That an elected official holding an executive local mandate cannot be a candidate for another executive local mandate until they have completed their current mandate unless they justify a case of force majeure or exceptional circumstances.
I add, as a resident of Nice, that it is intolerable to witness Nice and the people of Nice being considered mere adjustment variables in a political career, whatever it may be.
by David Nakache, president of the association Tous Citoyens
