Presidential election in France: There are signs of a low turnout

Round one of the presidential election in France is underway: incumbent Macron and his main competitor Le Pen cast their votes. By noon, voter turnout was a good 25 percent lower than five years ago.

The first round of the presidential election is underway in France: incumbent Emmanuel Macron wants to assert himself for a second term. The right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen is considered the strongest challenger to the liberal pro-European. In polls, the politician from the right-wing Rassemblement National Macron has recently come closer and closer. It is considered likely that both will end up in the top ranks in the vote on Sunday and move into the runoff on April 24.

According to the latest polls, Macron could hope for 25 to 28 percent of the vote, Le Pen for 22 to 24 percent. For weeks, the election campaign has focused primarily on the purchasing power of the French and concepts against rising prices.

Low voter turnout until noon

By 12 p.m., 25.48 percent of the 48.7 million registered voters had voted. The turnout, which the institute had expected to be rather low in advance, was actually three percentage points lower than in 2017: At that time, the turnout was 28.54 percent at noon.

Macron, Le Pen and the other ten candidates cast their votes by noon. Macron voted with his wife Brigitte in the northern French seaside resort of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage. Numerous supporters welcomed Macron on site at the polling station. Le Pen chose Hénin-Beaumont near Lille in north-eastern France.

The left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was in third place with 18 percent in the latest polls, voted in Marseille. The conservative Valérie Pécresse, who with about nine percent is calculated with little chance of entering the runoff, voted near Paris.

Mélenchon also wants to make it into the final vote. In view of the noticeable economic consequences of the Ukraine war for the French population, he won favor with socio-political demands.

Many voters undecided

A low turnout was feared overall. Polls recently assumed that up to 30 percent could stay away from the election. Shortly before the election, three out of ten French did not know who they were going to vote for. Ties to a party have also diminished, and there are fewer regular voters than before.

Polling stations close at 8 p.m

Because of the time difference, some French overseas territories, such as the Caribbean, voted on Saturday. In the rest of France, polling stations close at 8 p.m. on Sunday at the latest. Then the first extrapolations are expected. The winner of the first round of voting will be determined in a runoff on April 24th.

Tension and worry in Brussels and Berlin

Brussels and Berlin are also looking forward to the election with excitement and concern. A victory for right-wing populist Le Pen would come as a shock. Politically and economically, France is one of Germany’s most important partners. The Paris-Berlin axis, currently in tandem between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Macron, is a driving force in the European Union. In Brussels, Macron recently tried to present himself as a reformer of the EU. In the Ukraine crisis, he distinguished himself as one of the leading mediators.

Le Pen is threatened with a realignment of the French course

However, Eurosceptic Le Pen is threatening a fundamental realignment of the French course, in which Europe would only play a subordinate role and Germany would no longer be the partner of choice. Instead, a France under Le Pen would turn more to countries like Hungary or Poland. Confrontations with Brussels would be inevitable, and with Le Pen, France could go from driving EU initiatives to slowing them down.

If Le Pen were to win, Europe’s united front against Russia and the pro-Ukraine coalition could be endangered in the current crisis in view of the war. This is also viewed with great concern in the USA.