“Emmanuel Macron has put us in a real mess,” grumble centrist voters in a quandary before the second round

In 70 constituencies, the National Rally will face the New Popular Front. A real dilemma for centrist voters faced with unclear voting instructions.

“I am in despair to have the extreme left and the extreme right in front of us. This is not how I see my France, this is not how I see my city, I am extremely saddened…“: at lunchtime in a park in Lagny-sur-Marne, Samira doesn’t have much of an appetite.

The day after the first round of the legislative elections, this voter from the 7th constituency of Seine-et-Marne, an executive in the administration, says she is close to the ideas of La République en Marche, led by Emmanuel Macron. But this time, she admits: she is really embarrassed about the second round, who to vote for?

Although Samira says she has heard the calls from President Macron and the Prime Minister to block the RN, it is difficult for her to resolve to do so. “I understand that we absolutely have to first confront the National Rally, try to thwart its access to power… But frankly, voting for LFI is complicated for me. For me, these are two extremes: giving the keys to power to the far left doesn’t satisfy me. The figure of Mélenchon plays a big role. I don’t know if I’m going to vote, maybe vote blank.”she breathes.

With a more consensual figure on the left, she says, like Raphael Gluksmann, Samira could have taken the plunge and voted for the New Popular Front. She is not the only one to think this among the centrist voters she met in Lagny. “If someone had told me ‘Glucksmann will be the future Prime Minister’, yes, I think I would have voted for him,” confesses Serge, a senior executive at a telephone operator. He voted for the presidential majority in the first round, and for him too, the presence of LFI within the New Popular Front acts as a deterrent.

“Given the mess they have caused in the Assembly for several years and the comments they have made, I will not vote for them.”

His choice is therefore made: he will vote blank. A card that he will play for the very first time, since the RN vote is just as unthinkable for him: “I won’t be able to vote for the RN, even if they have polished their discourse. Among them, there are still extremist people. They don’t have many competent candidates. Even if there are headliners, like Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, the rest, they have parachuted in candidates who are not worth a rabbit fart”he decides.

According to Serge, it is not good to be a centrist today, the fault, according to him, lies with the executive in place. “I find it a shame that the government in power did not see the anger rising over insecurity, over immigration… There was a certain denial. They could have come up with laws, but they did not want to do so, and we have reached this point now.”he reproaches.

Like this voter, many centrists are angry with President Macron.Yes, he is the one who put us in this situation, he put us in a real mess”grumbles Patrick, a retiree, who has nevertheless always voted for La République en Marche.

“President Macron is partly responsible for the current situation. I don’t understand it. With all due respect to the office, what do you want to do with a President like that?”

So Patrick will vote blank on Sunday. The economic programs of the RN and the New Popular Front scare him. He particularly mentions the problem of France’s debt in the event of a victory by the extremes. “One day or another we will have to pay for it”he warns. And this is also an argument that comes up a lot among those voters in the center who would prefer to abstain rather than worsen, they say, the economic situation by voting for the extremes.