More than two months after the first round of the French presidential election, the French are still going to the polls.
The second round of parliamentary elections will be held tomorrow.
– The president is hoping to get a ruling majority to implement his policy, Kerstin Agrust told the NRK.
August is an Associate Professor of French Literature and Sciences at the University of Oslo.
Although the election determines how much power the president will have, less than half of the electorate will vote in the first round. 52.49 per cent did not vote France24.
August says low turnout in France is not uncommon.
– There is a trend in France over time, where participation is declining every year, says August.
A woman casts her vote at a polling station with a picture of French President Emmanuel Macron in the background.
Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP
No macron
One of the reasons for the low turnout was distrust of politicians, August says.
– Let’s talk about a democratic crisis in France. There is great skepticism on the part of the political elite. Most people do not trust politicians.
This year’s parliamentary election went largely unnoticed. Parties are not as actively involved in the election campaign as in the presidential election.
“People didn’t notice the parliamentary elections,” August said.
In particular, President Emmanuel Macron did not attend.
He spent a lot of time abroad after being re-elected president in April.
Emmanuel Macron has spent most of his recent years abroad. This week he visited Ukraine.
Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / ReutersPhoto: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters
Last week, he went to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky.
The first election took place on June 12. Macron’s center-right alliance, the group! Received 25.8 percent of the vote.
At the same time, the left-wing coalition, News, received 25.7 percent of the vote.
Difficulty for outdoor areas
In France, both presidential and parliamentary elections are called two-person, one-person constituencies.
Two constituencies do not mean that the election results represent, for example, the same as in Norway. Parties that do not have a broad electoral coalition lose.
Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Assembly Party received 41.45 percent of the vote in the second round.
Nonetheless, he is not expected to receive the same reception with his party representatives in the parliamentary elections.
– In the last 2017 election, Le Pen won 35 percent of the vote in the presidential election, but Agras says the parliamentary election ends with 8 representatives out of 577.D.
Jean Luc Mélenchon is the most popular left-wing party leader in France.
Photo: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / ReutersPhoto: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / Reuters
In the parliamentary elections, the Left is competing with a strong coalition. Something two months ago was unthinkable.
– This is very revolutionary, says Agrust about the News Alliance.
The left can capture 150 to 200 seats in parliament. According to the BBC.
In the presidential election in April, none of the leftists made it to the second round.
– This electoral system means that if one wants to get any chance of getting a large number of representatives in the National Assembly, one has to form a coalition. This was understood on the left side this year, says August.
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