(Anadolu) A top polling official during France’s regional elections last Sunday was demoted from her post for wearing a headscarf, according to official statements and French local media.
Rachida Kabbouri, a Muslim municipal councilor of the European Ecology — The Greens (EELV) party in Vitry-sur-Seine in the greater Paris Ile-de-France region, was appointed head of a polling station in the department of Val-de-Marne during the first-round elections.
But after the prefect of the Val-de-Marne got complaints about Kabbouri wearing a headscarf, the young woman’s position was demoted to polling station assessor.
According to French election laws, polling station heads are subject to the “principle of neutrality” since they represent the state, which is why Kabbouri was reassigned to a lower position, said a statement by the prefect’s office.
