Bad news for France’s far right – and Macron

TEN months from now France will elect its next president. The dates confirmed are April 10, 2022, for the first round and April 24 for the second round. As is usual in French elections, both days are Sundays.

But it was last Sunday and again today that the country’s voters have been going to the polls in two rounds of regional elections that have shaken up next year’s presidential race.

If last Sunday’s first round was anything to go by there were a few worrying signs for the main parties, not least given that only 33 per cent of the electorate made the effort to vote. Young voters especially were not impressed with almost 90% of France’s youngest voters failing to show up.

It’s perhaps unwise to read too much into any regional poll but that doesn’t stop pundits from seeing them as a taster of voter mood given that it’s the last chance for the French people to express their political inclinations before next April’s big one.

The bad news – for France’s far right at least – is that it performed worse than predicted. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, the eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party formerly known as the National Front, was especially disappointed having hoped to take over a number of regional councils, using the gains as a launch pad for her presidential campaign next April.

“Our voters did not come out,” Le Pen said last week, urging supporters to “mobilise their efforts” for today’s runoff.

But bad as it was for Le Pen, her disappointment paled alongside that of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist La Republique En Marche.

Macron’s party took a thumping last Sunday, coming in at fifth place and taking only 10% of the nationwide vote and leading in none of the 12 mainland regions.

The only party with a smile on its face was France’s mainstream conservative Les Republicains which fared better than expected, taking in 29% of the ballots cast. Given last Sunday’s result there are big fears for today’s second round with both Le Pen and Macron urging voters to head to the polls and warning about the dangers of abstention.

“To let abstention win is to make democracy lose,” Prime Minister Jean Castex tweeted last week in the wake of the first round, adding that voting was every citizen’s “responsibility”.

But whether France’s young voters will heed such a call remains doubtful indeed.