a crew of a French ship learns of the dissolution upon arriving in the Azores

The 37 members of the crew learned the news a week after Emmanuel Macron’s announcement. They then organized themselves to make proxies in time before the first round.

The crew of a French ship, the Rara Avis, which weighed anchor on June 8 from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon on the eve of the European elections, learned of the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 16 in arriving in the Azores archipelago, France Inter reported Friday June 28.

This crew, made up of 37 people, spent nine days cut off from the world, from its departure until its arrival in the Azores on June 16, a week after the announcement of the calling of early legislative elections by President Emmanuel Macron . This is a ship that is part of the fleet of the AJD Bel Espoir association, which notably takes on board young people undergoing reintegration.

When the crew members approached the Azores on June 16, they discovered that elections were imminent. “We then begin to see the silhouette of our destination island taking shape”says Fanny Hamon, vice-president of the association. “As we are all hyper connected today, the first instinct is to pick up our phone and check if we have a network. And there, we barely talked about our arrival, more about political events”.

After discussions, 22 of the crew members decided to make a proxy. “Everyone had to have a network to retrieve the voter card of the person to whom the proxy is given”adds Fanny Hamon. “Solidarity worked between the group to find proxies”.

The group also contacted the French embassy, ​​which referred them to the French honorary consul in the Azores. “This person was able to validate our powers of attorney”explains Maxime Leroux, the captain of the ship who had to change course. “She lives in Ponta Delgada. We diverted the boat, sailed for three more days to meet her and sign our powers of attorney to resume our initial route.”.

The sailors will learn the result of the legislative elections upon their arrival in Brittany on July 12, five days after the second round of the legislative elections.