Presidential election | Macron… while pinching his nose

Who will they vote for on Sunday? Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen? Will their choice be strategic? Intuitive, by default? Will they rather abstain, out of disinterest or rejection of the candidates? A few hours before the second round of the presidential election in France, The Press traveled to Lille, in the north of the country, to feel the pulse of voters.

Jean-Christophe Laurence
The Press

(Lille, France) Extremism is not good for business…

“Is Marine Le Pen capable of governing? I do not think so. His economic program does not hold up. And then there are old scarecrows coming out. It’s worrying. For entrepreneurs like me, it will be difficult to work in a socially troubled environment. Extremism is bad for business. Macron, if we can give him the chance to follow through with his ideas, that would be great. In the current international context, we need someone who takes France’s values ​​to the highest level. His project is healthier. »

Basil Gembar

Macron? An impostor !

“I voted in the first round for Mélenchon [gauche radicale]. It was not a choice of conviction, I proceeded by elimination. In the second round, I vote Marine Le Pen. Because Emmanuel Macron has to go. This guy is an impostor. A fool. The other reason is that I am an entrepreneur and I like Mr.^me The pen. She says: “France first. She advocates reindustrialisation, relocation… In terms of business, it can boost things! National preference? Perhaps. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s racist. There are Arab Frenchmen, black Frenchmen. It will also benefit them…”

Jean Ndjock

pinching my nose…

“I voted Mélenchon in the first round. Without hesitation. For the second, on the other hand, I wonder. In 2017, we voted for Macron not to pass Le Pen. The real Republican vote. Except that the Macron years were not good socially. There is a proven breakdown of public services. His handling of the pandemic has been awful. We lost a lot of freedoms with this story of [passeport] vaccine. So I wonder. Out of the question to vote for Marine Le Pen. But do I vote for Macron a second time knowing that he is announcing retirement at 65? That he privatizes everything? Without a doubt. But pinching my nose…”

Aisha Belhani

Bar the way to Marine

“Ah, sir! If you knew how we cried when Mélenchon was eliminated! There I will vote Macron, but a bit out of obligation. I don’t like him very much. He’s a monarch. The president of the rich. It has done nothing for retirees. He did for the bosses and that’s it! But we have to block Marine’s way, you understand? She talks about purchasing power, it’s true. And it’s good. But you will see. If she is elected, she will return to her ideas on the headscarf and Islam…”

El Mostafa Belhouari

The less bad of the two

Him: “I voted Macron in the first round and I continue. I looked at a bit of all the programs, it’s the one that seemed the most coherent to me, even if at the base I’m rather green. »

Her: “Me, it was Mélenchon. His ideas correspond more to what I expect on the ecological and social levels. It’s the most consistent. But there, suddenly, I’m going to vote Macron, to avoid the far right. There is no candidate that I adore. There is only one that is less bad than the other…”

Hippolyte Semin and Nina Boussalem

Pure abstentionist

“I am a pure and hard abstainer. I voted once when I was 18, and never again! I realized that my voice didn’t matter. It would be interesting if everyone did like me. There would be a real intellectual reverse. Something monstrous would happen. We would review everything! There, there are two candidates, we are obliged to vote for the less zero of the two… ”

Eric Cremer

He’s still the best

“I voted for Macron in the first round because I saw no other option. I wasn’t a big fan of the other 11 contestants. I would have voted green, but the character of Yannick Jadot [candidat du parti écologiste], I do not believe it. Macron is not extraordinary. For the environment, I have mixed feelings. But given the difficult years we had, I thought he was still the best. And on the international scene, he is good. My choice is made. »

Frederic Lefebvre