The Corsican independence protest hangs over the presidential election
Since March 2 and the fatal attack in detention of the nationalist Yvan Colonna, one of the assassins of the prefect Erignac, Corsica is under a political leaden screed.
Core in fronte and Corsica Libera separatists have called for a boycott of the presidential election. The autonomists, the majority, were more cautious. If actions at polling stations were feared, no facts have been reported so far. But the island woke up again to the roar of the bombings. During the night, three bungalows belonging to a mainland in Capo di Feno were set on fire. The buildings, located in a protected area, had already been targeted on September 1, 2021 by the FLNC.
For this first round, the pro-independence activists relied on an abstention that is not significant. The participation at noon is 25.86% in Corse-du-Sud (it was 26.03% in 2017) and 25.07% in Haute-Corse (28.99% five years ago).
Most of the billboards of the 12 candidates were covered in the night by posters signed Corsica Libera, showing a portrait of Yvan Colonna with the mention “Murderous french state” (murderous French state).
Gilles Simeoni “did not know if he was going to vote” on Friday, but the president of the executive finally did his homework at 3 p.m. in Bastia. In this same city that is in the hands of nationalists, Corsica Libera is calling for a women’s demonstration right now.
In Ajaccio, nationalist opposition councilor Jean-François Casalta (PNC) also slipped a ballot. “There is no contradiction between voting for the presidential election and being a nationalist”he says. “I am now waiting for the political process to restart with a view to autonomy, even if I think that the mobilizations will resume” continues Casalta, a former barrister of Ajaccio, a member of a group of lawyers defending the protesters “seven people seriously injured by the police. »
Finally Marie-Hélène, 52, hurries to vote in the village. “There have been draconian texts for five years and for the first time I don’t know who to vote for” confides this jurist who hopes that the burst of the ” civil society “.