As of: 06/27/2021 4:58 a.m.
The French hardly took part in the first round of regional elections – a shock for President Macron’s party. Greens and Rassemblement National, on the other hand, expect good chances in today’s second round.
From Stefanie Markert,
ARD studio Paris
It took a while for the Élysée Palace to officially comment on the first round of regional elections. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal only said on Wednesday: “The President of the Republic opened the Council of Ministers with the words that the record-low voter turnout is a democratic alarm that must be answered. We are calling for a democratic jolt for next Sunday.”
Attal puts the low turnout on the pandemic – that’s why there was no real election campaign with meetings and direct contact with voters. Besides, no national lessons can be drawn from the regional elections. The Macron movement “La République en Marche”, known as “LaRem” only came in fifth.
LaRem no chance in the regions?
The renowned political scientist Jérôme Jaffré sees it differently: “LaRem can’t get anything in round two,” he says. “It’s a political force that doesn’t exist in these elections. And that makes Emmanuel Macron a lonely man ahead of the presidential election.” His movement has no chance to rule a region.
Marine Le Pen, on the other hand, sees opportunities for her right-wing populist Rassemblement National: Her candidate is ahead in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region. “I believe in it, of course. Since 67 percent of the electorate did not vote, anything is possible in the runoff election if our voters mobilize,” she says.
Green leader Julien Bayou, who, based on a left alliance, wants to dispute the important Ile-de-France, the Paris metropolitan area, with a conservative politician, also hopes for his party. “This is where the Paris Climate Agreement was signed. It is a national symbol. There is an immense opportunity to put this region, the No. 1 in Europe, on the tracks of ecological restructuring and social justice,” enthuses Bayou. “We have great hope for Sunday.”
Not only Macron and Le Pen are warming up
Since the incumbents have taken office in all regions, it could be through electoral alliances after the first round that they are all confirmed in office. Especially in north-west France, in the Hauts-de-France region, where the government sent five ministers to the election campaign who came back without a flowerpot, the conservatives really scored.
Xavier Bertrand is the man of the hour there. The ex-labor and health minister has stood up to the far right and underpinned his ambitions for the presidential elections. His recipe: “The French want their problems to be dealt with, challenges to be accepted and hope to be given. This is exactly what I’ve been doing in the region for more than five years with my team. Politicians have to advance more things and work harder.”
So far, the game Macron – Le Pen seemed set for the runoff election for the presidency in the spring. But the more than 40 percent of the votes that Xavier Bertrand won in the first regional election round show that others are also warming up.
“The voters no longer play along”
Political scientist Jaffré, however, warns: “It is often said that the voters would punish politics with their vote. This time they did that with their non-vote. This is new. It is a punishment of the political class. The feeling that the elections bring nothing The massive boycott of the elections is destabilizing the political rules of the game. The voters are no longer involved. ”
That is why political programs are being worked on, but also new voting methods that could be used in the future, such as online voting or – after decades in which they did not exist – postal voting.
Many politicians of all stripes are angry about the unofficially leaked date for the presidential elections: a tight time frame is prescribed by law – but the two election rounds will probably be in the middle of the Easter break. Will the voters play along?