“We must not give a single voice to Madame Le Pen! We must not give a single voice to Madame Le Pen! On four occasions, Jean-Luc Mélenchon called on his voters not to vote for the candidate of the National Rally, on April 24. What will be the choice of the 22% of French people who opted for the rebellious candidacy? On the melenchon2022.fr site, a consultation was organized with the supporters of the candidate LFI, who gives 37.65% of the 215,292 votes cast in the blank or null vote, ahead of Emmanuel Macron with 33.4% and abstention at 29% (the Marine Le Pen option was not put to the vote). For our part, we launched an appeal to our readers and obtained several hundred responses. The rebellious voters seem divided on their choice of the second round.
“I will vote Macron because I am terrified at the idea of the passage of the far right”
Some of the tribune’s voters will vote for Emmanuel Macron to block the RN candidate, like Julie. “Despite a deep disgust for Macron, I will vote against Marine Le Pen, because it is impossible for me to give a voice to fascism. “Same observation for Quentin, who is worried about public freedoms:” I will vote for him reluctantly, of course, but this second round is for me a choice between respect for the rule of law that Macron represents, and societal conservatism. and the undermining of democracy embodied by Marine Le Pen”, he specifies, citing several measures that he considers positive, such as PMA for all or meals at 1€ in university restaurants.
“I think that at the last moment, in the ballot box, I will vote Macron because I am terrified at the idea of the passage of the far right. It will be easier to fight against Macron in power than with a person who risks locking everything up: our freedom to claim our disagreements, to demonstrate, or even the media…”, insists Cendrine. For his part, Bacim fears a future alliance between Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. “Macron is not a good person nor a good president but I will vote for him in order to avoid the social knockout,” he said. Jean-René finally sweeps away the strategy of demonizing the movement. “Death in my soul, I will vote Macron. I will never forget that the RN is the FN. They can change their name, it remains a party created with notorious nazis and Marine Le Pen herself attended a ball [en Hongrie en 2012] with the Nazis,” adds this former soldier.
“I will vote neither for the plague nor for cholera”
Other rebellious readers assure that they will make no choice on April 24. “As in 2017, I will abstain, because the blank vote is useless, it is abstention that sends the strongest signal,” said Thomas. “I will not vote in the second round because I do not forget that Macron wanted to ‘piss’ the French and that thousands of people had to be vaccinated to keep their jobs. That he is the cause of the “yellow vests” and that he has reinforced anti-Muslim hatred. As for Marine Le Pen, she plays with her cat to soften the hearts of the French, but she is obsessed with foreigners and Muslims,” Fleur explains. “It will be abstention, because I cannot bring myself to choose between class contempt and racial contempt. This is the only way to mark the illegitimacy of the future “winner””, abounds Elodie.
“My decision, I made it in 2018 after the Benalla affair, continues Denis. I will vote blank because this time, we cannot say that we do not know Macron, his class contempt and his neoliberal program”. “As a French citizen and a Muslim, I will not vote for the plague or for cholera. I have supported Mélenchon since 2017, I will no longer vote for another candidate who does not correspond to me, ”says Fouhed. Like them, Didier will not repeat the republican barrage carried out in 2002 against Jean-Marie Le Pen. “Chirac never took into account that it was not a membership vote. I will therefore abstain because it is out of the question to give my vote to the far right or to Macron, whose arrogance annoys me. I would like him to be elected with as few votes as possible, so that his five-year term is less legitimate. »
“After reflection and against Mélenchon’s wishes, I will vote for Marine Le Pen”
Finally, despite the instruction repeated by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, some rebellious will put a Marine Le Pen bulletin in the ballot box on Sunday. “Macron is the president of the rich, and arrogant as can be, he does not know the life of the people. I don’t want to retire at 64 or 65, because I have a job with staggered hours which will inevitably affect my life expectancy, ”laments Fabien. “After reflection and against Mélenchon’s will, I will vote for Marine Le Pen. Macron proposes retirement at 65 but he is not a worker in a factory or in the building industry, so it is not a concern for him to still be at work at that age, ”adds Alphonsine. .
“I will vote for Le Pen because there are points in common with Mélenchon, the RIC [référendum d’initiative citoyenne] and the end of the vaccination pass [suspendu par l’exécutif en mars dernier] “, adds Fabrice, while the health theme comes up in many comments. Others make strategic choices, like Mohammed. “Faced with the destruction of our social model, and although being a Frenchman of Muslim faith, I will vote for Marine Le Pen in the second round, not out of conviction but out of protest. And it is likely that she will not be able to gather a majority in the Assembly, thus suggesting a potential cohabitation. “A risky bet while under the Fifth Republic, the elected presidents most of the time always obtained an absolute majority in the following legislative elections.