Legislative elections: abstention and apathy

Paris, Jun 5 (Prensa Latina) Apathy and abstention seem to overshadow France’s key legislative elections that would draw the political scenario for the next five years, with the ruling party focused on keeping control of the National Assembly and the left centered on achieving a historical result.

June 5, 2022
09:21

On June 12, the first round, and the 19, the second, almost 49 million French will be called to cast their votes at polling stations,less than two months after the balloting that left Emmanuel Macron as president for another five years at the Elysée Palace.

Since a five-year term for a head of state was established in 2002, parliamentary elections have followed presidential elections in the electoral schedule, always with the same outcome: the Executive winning a majority at the Assembly, which in France is a synonym to giving the green light to the programs of the winning political force.

This year’s polls haven’t revealed a different scenario, reason for which the last days of campaign are hectic for the favorite coalition Together, led by the governing movement The Republic in the Move, and its main challenger: the New People’s Ecologic and Social Union, a block gathering left wing organizations, such as La France Insoumise, Europe Ecology The Greens and the Communist and Socialist parties.

The ruling party is determined to maintain its advantage and the left to reduce differences, both are worried about the expected abstention rate, which threatens to be one of the highest in republican history.

Five years ago, 57.4 percent of registered French voters chose not to vote in parliamentary elections, which then left Macron’s supporters and his allies with more than 350 deputies of the National Assembly’s 577.

According to a poll by the French Public Opinion Institute, this month’s abstention index could reach 52 percent. The same survey company showed last Tuesday an advantage of Together in voter’s intention, although without fully guaranteeing an absolute majority in the assembly.

For experts, such as Bruno Cautrès, another problem lies in the electorate’s apathy, which is neither motivated or values parliamentary elections, now at the center of political debate. That could be the result of indifference by not few people at the appointment of Élisabeth Borne as prime minister.

Taken from Orbe

By Waldo Mendiluza, Chief Correspondent/Paris