The turnout figure is once again in the spotlight for the second round of the legislative elections in France held this Sunday, after the record number of abstention from the first round, which reached 52.49%.
Participation in the second round at twelve noon was 18.99%, which means a slight increase compared to the 18.43% of the first round at the same time, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
This increase contrasts with what was perceived in the Pierre Bullet polling station in the X district of Paris, where you barely had to wait two minutes to vote in the morning.
The president of that voting college, George Departure, indicated that they perceived a lower turnout than in the first round, when turnout at the end of the day was 59.85% in this center, almost 7 percentage points above the national average. Despite this perception, Partida did not want to rush when predicting a smaller participation: “The situation can change quickly.”
Among the voters, the reasons they gave for not having stayed at home were diverse. In the case of Élise, a 50-year-old worker from the City Hall of the III district of Paris, she told Efe that going to the polls is “a duty.”
“We have to be there, know and say what we think and put the ballot in the ballot box, whatever it is,” he explained after finishing voting at this electoral college. Despite this, he also recognized that abstention is also a way in which people express their discontent: “That is your vote, your choice.”
Along the same lines, Bernard, a 57-year-old media worker who has been going to vote since he was old enough to do so, stressed that these legislative elections are more important if possible than the presidential ones. “They are the ones who will later decide the conduct of the Government and the laws. It is extremely important to vote,” he said. “I hope a lot of people do.”
Bernard said that he had voted for the leftist coalition NUPES and believes that the results will be very even, as in the first round. “I would like a majority to come out that can balance democratic and parliamentary life in France,” he adds.
Cro, a 60-year-old insurance employee of Italian origin, gave a very different reason for not missing the election date this Sunday. “It seems to me that the political future in France is not bright at all, extremism is at the forefront, and it is very serious for politics”. Cro revealed having voted for the Ensemble coalition! of the majority of the president, Emmanuel Macron: “Both the extreme left and the extreme right bring chaos.”
Macron was the last of the great political protagonists of the day to vote. He did it with his wife Brigitte as usual in the city of Le Touquet, where he is registered, a few minutes after one in the afternoon.
Before him, the leader of the left-wing coalition, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (who does not appear in these elections), in Marseille, and the leader of the extreme right, Marine LePenin his electoral fief of Hénin-Beaumont.
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