“It doesn’t change anything, it’s always the same thing”, judge disillusioned inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis

At the counter of the Terminus, a bistro in the Pleyel district of Saint-Denis,
despite the huge screen broadcasting the meeting of candidate Zemmour live,
the presidential campaign is not really at the heart of the discussions. “They are not very interested in politics.launches Ahmid, the manager of the Terminus. They are more interested in how to find a small job, find an apartment, but politics, for them, is not what will get them out of their situation.

>> Presidential 2022: follow the latest information in our live

It is however the beginning of the official campaign for the presidential election, Monday, March 28. The last straight line for candidates who multiply meetings and communication operations. On the other side of the counter, Baptiste intends to go and vote but he no longer expects much. “We voted Macron, we voted before, and then… France, it plungeshe blurts out. People don’t believe it because they feel abandoned here. And then, we talk badly about Saint-Denis even though it is a very beautiful city. The proof: all Parisians come to live here!”

Abandoned, this has been Toufik’s feeling for several years now: “I have never voted since Chirac-Le Pen because it does not interest me, it does not change anything, it is always the same thing.” Seine-Saint-Denis is the metropolitan department that recorded the highest rate of abstention in 2017. For Christine, a resident of the neighboring town of Saint-Ouen, politics is just talk that she considers far removed from his daily life. “It’s not possible, I stopped voting”she says.

“Everything has increased, life is very hard, wages are not increasing, life is increasing, it has become catastrophic. Presidents don’t care about that but they care more about the rich.”

Christine, resident of Saint-Ouen

at franceinfo

Installed between the plots of the allotment gardens, Farida, Jamila and Yasmina intend to go and vote at all costs, even if they feel lost for the moment. “We don’t really know where we are with President Macron anymore.believes the first. We no longer know which saint to devote ourselves to.” Her friend adds: “Macron, I will not vote for you.” Yasmina evokes Eric Zemmour: “When he says ‘the French, the French’, but we are French too. We have always paid our bills and unfortunately we don’t see the gratitude for it because thanks is still to be interested in the little people.”

In this department, the poorest in metropolitan France, it was the rebellious candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came out on top in the votes in 2017.