France Insubmissa, the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, third place in the first round of the French presidential election, released this Sunday (17) the results of an internal consultation on the position that the acronym should have in the second round.
The possible options were abstention, a blank vote or support for the center-right incumbent President Emmanuel Macron — endorsing the far-right Marine Le Pen was not a valid option. Of the 215,000 participants, 37% said they preferred a blank vote, 33.4% said they would opt for the candidate for reelection and 28.9% indicated they would abstain. In France, attendance at the polls is not mandatory.
Mélenchon, the radical left, received 7.7 million votes in the first round, or 21.7% of the total, slightly less than Le Pen (23.9%). Macron came in first with 27.3%. Shortly after the results were released, without expressing direct support for the president, the candidate asked that none of his supporters vote for the ultra-rightist next Sunday (24).
“The results [da consulta deste domingo] they are not an order to support anyone. Everyone should draw their conclusions from this and vote as they see fit,” Melenchon’s campaign team wrote on its website.
An Ipsos poll released on Saturday showed that around 33% of voters for the radical left’s name in the first round would support Macron, with 16% opting for Le Pen. More than 50% of respondents, however, declined to give their opinion. The survey indicated that, if the election took place today, Macron would win re-election with 55.5% of the votes, against 44.5% for his rival.
Analysts see the landscape in France as fragmented and indecisive, in which the election must be won by the candidate who can go beyond their field to convince voters that the other option would be much worse.
Five years ago – as in 2002, when Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, passed to the second round against Jacques Chirac -, the final contest saw the consolidation of what was called the “republican front”, to prevent the coming to power of the far right.
In this 2022, however, Macron’s advantage appears to be smaller, amid the weariness of the president and the rival’s efforts to appear more moderate.
Also on Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets of at least 30 cities in marches against Le Pen.
At a rally in Marseille, Macron, who is trying to win the favor of left-wing voters, said that “the far right is a risk for our country”. Le Pen, at a campaign event also in the south of France, called the protests undemocratic. “The establishment is worried,” he said.
In the first round campaign, she managed to use to her advantage dissatisfaction with the rising cost of living and the perception that Macron is disconnected from the daily difficulties of the people.
On the 10th, an Ipsos survey carried out shortly after the vote confirmed that purchasing power was the most important issue when defining the vote for 58% of voters, ahead of immigration and health, relevant for 27% and 26%.
