Presidential election in France: Absence once again flirts with record

According to polling agencies, turnout in France’s second-round turnout in Sunday’s second round of elections is set to rise again, with voters reeling from the re-release of Macron-the-Pen.

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Nearly 14 million voters on Sunday refused to make a decision between second-elected Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, one million more than those who were absent in the first round on April 10 (12.8 million).

To this were added 6.5% of registered voters, who also refused to choose by slipping a blank or invalid ballot or more than 3 million voters.

“35% of voters did not vote, or cast a blank and empty ballot,” Jerome Jaffrey, a political scientist, wrote on the LCI channel.

With the exception of one record in 1969, such a strong absence was never recorded in the second round of the presidential election.

“We can clearly see no increase in the equation, because in the end a large number of voters did not worry about this poster because they did not worry about the same poster in 2017,” said Bernard Sannes of Elab. Institute of Studies.

Small consolation, the record for empty and invalid ballots in 2017 – more than 3 million empty ballots and one million invalid ballots in the second round – is unmatched.

“Given the anti-Macron climate, the Left really hates him, and since he has been in power for five years, it is a bit surprising that more people are absent and there are no empty and invalid ballots in 2017, at this time,” said Anne Jadot, a political scientist from the University of Lorraine (East).

“But there is undoubtedly a real fear in the end that it will lead the people to block the road to everything by going to the polls,” she explains, particularly about electing a section of the radical left voters. Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Even minors are more likely to refuse to choose. “40% of those under the age of 25 abstained and 80% of those over the age of 65 went to the polls, meaning there was old France that voted overwhelmingly for Emmanuel Macron and young France that was partially diverted from the ballot. The main social gap, ”Jerome Jaffrey warned.