“Abstention is progressing compared to 2017 but does not reach the 2022 record”, explains the Hauts-de-France political scientist Tristan Haute this morning on France Bleu Picardie. This is a lesson from this 1st round of the presidential election: 26% of French people did not vote this Sunday of which 25.5% of Samarians. In the end, Emmanuel Macron is overtaken by Marine Le Pen in the Somme and Jean-Luc Mélenchon is in the lead in Amiens, the birthplace of the outgoing president.
“The abstention curve, since 2017, continues to rise with a campaign, this year, of low intensity, the health crisis which had led to massive abstention in local elections. (note: departmental and regional in June 2021). This abstention is indicative of a distance from the vote, of a critical relationship to a system representative of these voters and to the usefulness of the vote. We can see that some voters will participate in large numbers but for candidates who propose to see it again, even at the margins”details Tristan Haute.
“Abstention risks, as in 2017, progressing between the two rounds and lowering the legitimacy of the president-elect.”Tristan Haute point. “This is particularly the case for the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who, for some, will go to vote, but blank or null. It is the expression of another form of vote”he concludes.