the study that 63 people were attached to a community in the region of Paris: out of these 63 people, 15 were of voting age yet only one person was registered in the electoral rolls and in fact had not voted in the past.77 Nor can the French state that this situation has not been brought to its attention early enough: in 1990, the Delamon report noted that a full 75% of the Travellers were effectively not exercising their right to vote.78 One of the results of this situation is that Travellers do not have access to one of the basic democratic right, that of voting, which could enable them (at least in the context of municipal elections) to have a say in issues that have a direct impact on them, such as for example the extension of town plans to encompass areas where Travellers have been living illegally.79 By failing to both abolish the discriminatory regime concerning the electoral rights of Travellers as well as to take the necessary measures to ensure that Travellers are informed of their rights and are allowed to effectively exercise them, the French state perpetuates their social exclusion, in contravention to Article 30 RESC.
Entre autres conséquences de cette situation, les gens du voyage n’ont pas accès à l’un des droits démocratiques fondamentaux - le droit de vote - qui pourrait leur permettre (du moins dans le cadre des élections municipales) d’avoir leur mot à dire sur des questions qui les concernent directement, comme par exemple l’extension des plans d’urbanisme en vue d’y intégrer les zones occupées illégalement par les gens du voyage79. Faute de supprimer le régime discriminatoire qui entoure les droits électoraux des gens du voyage et de prendre les mesures nécessaires pour veiller à ce qu’ils soient informés de leurs droits et puissent effectivement les exercer, l’Etat français les maintient en situation d’exclusion sociale, au mépris de l’article 30 de la CSER.