the unknown abstention for the second round

The abstention for the second round, Sunday April 24, “could reach 26.5%” according to the latest estimate from Ipsos. “We would be almost at a similar level in the first round”, which was 26.3%, recalls journalist Guillaume Daret, on the 8 p.m. set, Saturday April 23. On the other hand, “It would be a little more than the second round five years ago”. It reached 25.4% in 2017, “which was already a record for nearly 50 years”he says.

In the archives, the presidential election where, in the second round, abstention was the strongest, “it was in 1969 with 31.1% for the duel between Georges Pompidou and Alain Poher”, explains Guillaume Daret. Conversely, the second round where the French voted the most was in 1974, with 12.7% abstention. “It was the tightest presidential race in the history of the Fifth Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing narrowly winning against François Mitterrand”, recalls the political journalist. Traditionally, “abstention is lower in the second round than in the first”. Exception: 2017, where it was stronger in the second than in the first, with the same poster as in 2022.