In the first round of local elections seen as a bellwether for France's next presidential race, the abstention rate hit a record high. Held amid voter disengagement, the elections laid bare the structural mistrust that France's democracy must address, analysts said.
In the vote held on the 15th (local time), between 41.5% and 44% of the 48.7 million registered voters did not cast ballots, according to tallies. Excluding the 2020 elections, which were directly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is an unprecedentedly high abstention rate in the history of France's local elections.
◇ Motivation to vote disappears as "single-candidate runs" surge
A lack of tension is cited as one of the main reasons the abstention rate surged in this election. As single-candidate runs multiplied, the motivation to vote vanished.
According to Le Monde, only one candidate list was registered in about 68% of municipalities nationwide. In Torcy, a city of 22,000 people, the left-wing alliance list led by incumbent Mayor Guillaume Le Ray Felgine ran unopposed. While the tally showed a 100% approval rate and secured reelection, only 28.5% of registered voters actually cast ballots. Seven out of 10 voters effectively gave up voting.
Le Monde analyzed that "especially in small municipalities with fewer than 1,000 residents, the introduction of a list-based proportional representation system limited voter choice—such as preventing them from adding or removing specific candidate names—and this acted as a factor discouraging participation."
Abstention also appeared in major cities. In Saint-Denis, Beauvais and Reims, more than half of registered voters did not go to the polls.
◇ "Politicians are incompetent"… distrust spreads among the young
Ahead of the elections, the French government made an all-out effort to boost turnout. It fully moved proxy voting procedures online and ran get-out-the-vote ads on platforms popular with young people, such as the dating app "Tinder" and the secondhand marketplace "Leboncoin."
But even such unconventional campaigns did not break the cynicism toward politics. Le Monde said, "Rising abstention in local elections is part of a general phenomenon of alienation from politics and rejection of politicians." Experts noted that the French view politicians as incompetent and dishonest, a trend that is particularly pronounced among younger people.
Sciences Po professor Martial Foucault told Le Monde that "mayors remain the most favored elected officials among the French, yet they have not escaped the broader current of political indifference," adding that "the social norm of participating in elections is steadily losing strength."