Less than three months before the presidential election, warnings are multiplying against a candidate in better shape than ever: abstention. In 2017, already, a quarter of voters had not moved to choose between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in the second round, unheard of since Pompidou’s France. The trend for 2022 is not better, since they would be a third to seriously consider staying warm on April 10 and thus offer the Fifth Republic a record that it would do without. An even more marked dropout among young people: as raised by the first wave of our barometer published on Wednesday *, only 45% of 18-30 year olds plan to vote in the first round.
disillusioned
Over time, the causes are beginning to be known. In bulk, proposals deemed inadequate, doubts about the sincerity of the candidates or the feeling that the identity of the future president will not change much in his daily life – which is expressed by 52% of young people in our barometer. Disinterest lurks and makes our democracy sick. To counter this trend, initiatives are cropping up here and there. They are very diverse but guided by a common problem: how to reconnect citizens and the political leaders who govern them?
First element, the French would not be less concerned by the political thing. Just disillusioned. “People are ready to debate, to get involved. If they no longer do it – notably by voting – it may be because we are not debating the right subjects and in the right way, ”said Aurélien Delpirou. This agrégé in geography has just published, with Frédéric Gilli, professor at the Urban School of Sciences Po, an atlas entitled 50 cards to see before going to vote (otherwise edition).
France is in decline? It was better before ? Politics can do nothing more? The two authors answer these questions heard a thousand times over the past few years spent traveling around France through consultation meetings or neighborhood councils – whether in large cities or towns of 800 inhabitants – “with data objectives of social sciences and statistical institutes”.
The rise of participatory democracy
Their goal is to “give reading grids other than those harped on by the candidates”, summarizes the researcher, on themes “essential but which seem to us invisible in the public space, the media and political discussions”. “What we hear in the campaign seems to us very far from the concerns raised on the ground and very false”, supports Aurélien Delpirou.
In the territories, more and more experiments in participatory democracy are organized, in order to renew the link between inhabitants and elected officials. “It’s a trend that is no longer marginal,” notes Katharina Zuegel, co-director of Decide together, a think tank aimed at spreading the culture of citizen participation.
While the great national debate and the Citizens’ Climate Convention launched by Emmanuel Macron during his five-year term are good examples of what can be done on a large scale, the vast majority of initiatives in terms of citizen participation take place at the local level. . Local authorities (municipalities, departments, regions) open the debate to their constituents to “find new ideas or reach a consensus between very diverse opinions, for example on the redevelopment of a public space”, illustrates Katharina Zuegel.
In this field, digital tools have opened a new era, that of “civictech”. A somewhat barbaric term that designates organizations that use technology – discussion platforms, participatory budgets, etc. – to promote relations between citizens and those in power. “The essence of the problem is there: public decisions are taken behind closed doors, with a minority of actors who do not represent the diversity of expectations and knowledge. Today, with digital technology, you can almost audition the whole of France to make a decision. We must take advantage of it, ”said Cyril Lage, one of the pioneers in the field.
After trying his hand with a first project called “Parliament & Citizens” in 2013, he founded the start-up Collective heading, which was used to organize the great national debate in 2019, the consultation for the Pacte law or the co-construction of the law for a digital Republic. “We carried out a consultation over three weeks in which 20,000 people participated, he describes. At its conclusion, the government modified its draft law to include four new articles and 80 modifications related to the contributions of the participants. Consultation can have a real impact. »
A certain idea of politics
While participatory democracy is only in its infancy, and there are still no studies on its impact in terms of voter turnout or trust in elected officials, it is spreading even a certain idea of political practice. “It shows that citizens are capable of hearing that France is engaged in complex dynamics, that there are ongoing reorganizations everywhere, in society, modes of production and consumption, that there are imperatives climatic. You have to listen to them, ”insists Aurélien Delpirou. “We are in a real fundamental dynamic”, adds Cyril Lage
NGOs and associations like Voted Where
The committed also play their part in this grassroots reappropriation of the political debate. They are aimed in particular at the youngest, organize internal debates or meetings with public decision-makers to encourage them to take an interest in politics. The name of the initiator of the Committed may ring a bell. Grégoire Cazcarra is the one who created the Elyze application, which offers, on the principle of Tinder, to “swipe” candidate proposals to find out which one we “match” the most. A huge success since its launch in early January.
“Our generation is annoyed by the language of wood, wants spontaneity”, says the 22-year-old student to our colleagues from World. To go even further, he wrote a book called At the polls! How to convince your loved ones to vote, to be published on February 23 by Librio. More effective than France 2, which will change the formula of its flagship political program, Elysee 2022, to integrate several in-house presenters well known to the general public in order to attract even more viewers? The levers don’t matter, basically. In this campaign, all means are good to capture the widest possible audience.
*Barometer #MeYoung 2022 OpinionWay – 20 Minutes – West France – Journaux de Loire carried out from January 5 to 13 on a sample of 1,026 people representative of the French population aged 18 to 30, according to the quota method.