More than two months after the first round of the French presidential election, the French are still going to the polls. Tomorrow, the second round of parliamentary elections will be held. – The president is dependent on getting a governing majority to implement his policy, says Kjerstin Aukrust to news. Aukrust is an associate professor of French literature and area knowledge at the University of Oslo. Although the election determines how much power the president gets, less than half of the voting population participated in the first round. 52.49 percent abstained, according to France 24. Aukrust says that it is not uncommon for low turnout in France. – There is a trend seen in France over time, where participation has decreased almost every year, says Aukrust. A woman is voting in a polling station with a picture of French President Emmanuel Macron in the background. Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP Macron absent One of the reasons for the low turnout is a lack of trust in politicians, says Aukrust. – One can talk about a democratic crisis in France. There is a great deal of skepticism towards the political elite. Most people do not trust politicians. The parliamentary elections have not received much attention this year. The parties have not been as active in the election campaign as they are in the presidential election. “People have hardly noticed that there are parliamentary elections,” says Aukrust. In particular, the president, Emmanuel Macron, has been absent. He has spent a lot of time abroad after being re-elected president in April. Emmanuel Macron has spent much of his recent time abroad. This week he visited Ukraine. Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / ReutersPhoto: VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters Last week he was in Kyiv visiting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyj. The first round of elections was held on 12 June. Macron’s center-right alliance, Ensemble! received 25.8 percent of the vote. While the alliance on the left, Nupes, received 25.7 percent. Difficult for the outside parties Both the presidential and parliamentary elections in France are what are called majority elections in one-man constituencies over two constituencies. Parliamentary elections in France In each district, elections are held in two rounds at one-week intervals. Candidates with more than 12.5 percent of the votes go on to the second round of elections. This means that those who have voted for a candidate who did not advance from the first round must vote for another candidate in the second round. That’s why it pays to have election alliances. A candidate does not get a new round if he or she receives more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round. It rarely happens, most people have to go through two rounds. Source: France 24 Two election grounds mean that the result of the election does not represent the will of the people to the same extent as, for example, in Norway. Parties without broad electoral alliances lose. Marine Le Pen from the far-right National Assembly party received 41.45 percent of the vote in the second round. Nevertheless, it is not expected that her party will receive the same with representatives in the parliamentary elections. – In the last election in 2017, Le Pen received 35 percent of the votes in the presidential election, but ends up with 8 representatives out of 577 in the parliamentary election, says Aukrust. Jean Luc Mélenchon is the most popular left-wing party leader in France. Photo: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / ReutersPhoto: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / Reuters The Left Party is running in the parliamentary elections with a strong alliance. Something that just two months ago was unthinkable. – It is quite revolutionary, says Aukrust about the alliance Nupes. The left could win 150 to 200 seats in parliament, according to the BBC. Despite the fact that in the presidential election in April, no one from the left made it to the second round of elections. – This electoral system means that you have to form alliances if you are to have any chance of getting a large number of representatives in the National Assembly. This has been understood on the left side this year, says Aukrust.
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But people do not bother to vote – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
