As 50 million people are expected to cast their vote in the EU elections, we break down what’s at stake in voting in France.
After weeks of campaigning, multiple rallies and debates, the race for the European elections is coming to an end. More than 50 million French voters are expected to go to the polls this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know about the EU election campaign in France:
How does it work?
French voters will be able to choose between 38 different matcheseach of which presents 81 candidatesthe total number of MEPs who France will send to the European Parliament in 2024. It is the second country with the most MEPsbehind Germany, which will have 96 seats in these elections.
The first results will be announced night of June 9 from 8:00 p.m.. On Friday from 11:59 p.m. and until the first results on Sunday at 8:00 p.m., French candidates are prohibited from speaking publicly about the scrutiny and the audiovisual media can no longer issue political comments or make reference to polls or estimates. If a party has obtained less than 5% of the votes, it will not be able to send any MP to Parliament.
What are the different games played?
For the extreme right, these elections will be a duel against Macron
This year, the domestic issues are at the forefront of many French voters’ decision-making in the upcoming EU vote. The main concerns of French citizens in these elections have been mainly immigration, purchasing power and security, according tovarious surveys.
The extreme right party National Group (RN) has focused its campaign as a referendum on the approval of French President Emmanuel Macron, especially on these issues, and the main candidate in the EU elections, Jordan Bardella, has declared that he will demand early legislative elections if his party wins. During his last campaign rally, held this Sunday in Paris, Jordan Bardella asked voters to vote against Macron:
“Next Sunday, abstaining means voting for Macron. Next Sunday, voting for other parties [más pequeños] will only strengthen Macron,” said before a cheering crowd of 5,000 people.
Bardella dominates the polls, with 32% of voting intentions, according to the latest ‘Euronews’ poll.The objective of the party is to stay above 30%a result never seen before for the National Rally, except during the second round of the French presidential elections.
But historically, the party is used to losing a few points on Election Day because some voters change their minds at the last minute. This could be the case for Stéphane, a 30-year-old dentist living in Paris and a long-time supporter of the National Rally.
He told ‘Euronews’ that he is still choosing between two far-right parties: The National Group of Bardella and the Reconquista party of Marion Maréchal (currently at 5.9% of voting intentions). According to him, Marion Maréchal seems to him “a much better candidate, more qualified and self-confident” than her 28-year-old rival.
“I don’t know whether to vote for Jordan Bardella to give him more power in the EU Parliament or to vote for Marion Maréchal, who is more qualified,” he said.
Macron’s liberal party controls the damage
President Emmanuel Macron’s center-right party, led by Valerie Hayer, is more than 15 points behind the National Rally (currently with 15.7%). The MEP was not well known until recently and she has been criticized for being too erudite during debates.
“Unfortunately, Valérie Hayer is in terrible shape, but she is the least bad candidate of all,” laments Max, a 29-year-old consultant based in Paris.
He assures that he will vote for the Renaissance party to limit the rise of the extreme right. “I would like France to send MEPs who could participate in the construction of the EU instead of hindering it,” he told Euronews.
Mr. Macron has been fighting to save his party from early defeat by sending his Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to face Jordan Bardella in a debate one on one, instead of Valérie Hayer, causing negative reactions from other candidates as well as voters.
A prime-time television interview with Emmanuel Macron is scheduled for this Thursday night, which has further angered the other candidates, who have filed a complaint before the national media regulator, Arcom.
“The president has been very involved in these elections, but all his actions have failed,” explains Christophe Boutin, political scientist and professor of Public Law at the University of Caen, in Normandy.
“It has been difficult to boost the polls because his arguments are known. The French do not see the effectiveness that the President claims his party has achieved,” Boutin said in an interview with ‘Euronews’.
For Renaissance, the objective now is for Valérie Hayer’s party to remain in second position, far from its unexpected rival, the socialist candidate Raphaël Glucksmann currently at 14% of voting intentions.
ADVERTISINGThe “surprise” candidate of the Socialist Party
The head of the socialist party (PS-PP) has set her sights on second place, hoping to give a boost to the traditional French left, more moderate than the France Without Arc party (LFI) and the Green party ( EELV) in the country’s left-wing political spectrum.
Franck, 52, a Paris-based community manager, said that although he voted for the Green party in the 2019 EU elections, this year he has decided to go for Raphael Glucksmann.
“The Greens campaign has been invisible, I have not retained anything from their proposals. I am more interested in returning to the traditional left,” he told ‘Euronews’.
In his opinion, Glucksmann represents a more “moderate and progressive program compared to other left-wing parties, while still integrating proposals in favor of the environment.”
The Green party, which managed an unexpected advance in the last European elections of 2019 with 13.5% of the votes, is now struggling to build momentum. The party is currently stuck at 5.8% of voting intentions, close to the dangerous 5% threshold needed in France to send MEPs to Brussels.
ADVERTISINGAnother leftist party ‘France Unbowed’ (LFI), represented by Manon Aubry, has difficulties in the polls, with 8%. The party has focused its campaign on Gaza and the recognition of the Palestinian State, hoping to attract a younger electorate.
And the undecided?
22% of potential voters say it will be decided this week, and 10% the day before or the same day, according to a Elabe survey. Julia, a 28-year-old who works in the financial sector in Paris, says she did not vote in the last European elections, but is determined to do so on Sunday. She says she remains undecided between various right-wing parties, and she cites immigration, agriculture and French sovereignty as their main concerns.
“I will not vote for a party that values the EU more than France. I am not a Eurosceptic, but I think we should give priority to France,” she declared.
However, it is the left has a higher percentage of undecided voters, according to Elabe. This is the case of Elena, a 37-year-old coordinator in a medical-social organization. She has not yet made up her mind, but she assures that she will only vote for a left-wing or far-left party, although she admits to feeling disillusioned by the EU.
“My perception of the EU has changed a lot in the last 15 years. I used to hope that we could influence it by voting. I have lost that hope,” and he says he votes “out of habit.”
ADVERTISING“I thought that the EU, as it was constructed, would create an equal and fair society. But it seems that the circulation of goods and capital is above the citizens,” he said.
What is the absenteeism percentage in France?
It is expected that the percentage of absentee voters in France is around 50% this year. It is slightly lower to the average from the other EU countries.
“There has been no improvement, but at the same time no decrease in the abstention rate in France,” says Christophe Boutin.
According to the political scientist, young people tend to abstain, while the older generation and those with higher incomes are the most likely to vote. Florent, a 32-year-old consultant based in Lyon, did not vote in 2019 because he “didn’t feel concerned about the EU.”
He told ‘Euronews’ that he will vote this Sunday because he is anxious about the rise of the far right across the continent, and that he will vote for Macron’s center-right party, one of the few that “believes in Europe and its institutions.” , according to him.
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