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2022 FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Low turnout in French election adds to uncertainty

Participation in the first round of the French presidential vote stood at 65 percent at 5pm on Sunday, the interior ministry said, down sharply from the same point in the 2017 election.

Published: 10 April 2022 18:20 CEST

Low turnout in French election adds to uncertainty

Scrutineers perform the votes' counting for the French presidential election first round at a polling station in La Possession on the French Indian ocean island of La Reunion, on April 10, 2022. (Photo by Richard BOUHET / AFP)

Analysts have forecast that turnout for the vote, in which President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a second five-year term, could be the lowest since 2002, injecting a high level of uncertainty into the race.

You can follow all the latest results on our live blog HERE.

Mid-afternoon turnout was down 4.4 percentage points from 2017, when Macron upended the French political landscape by knocking out traditional parties on the left and right with an ambitious reformist platform.

He advanced to the run-off against Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader who is again forecast by polls to qualify for the second round this year, and who has seen a sharp jump in opinion polls over the past week.

But turnout at this stage was well above the 58.5 percent of April 21st, 2002, when Marine’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, disproved polls by squeezing past the Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin to advance to the second round against incumbent president Jacques Chirac.

Chirac went on to win re-election in a crushing defeat of Le Pen, just as Macron beat out Marine Le Pen in the 2017 run-off with 66 percent of the votes to her 34 percent.

Polls suggest a repeat of the Macron-Le Pen contest would be much closer this year.

Some 48.7 million voters are registered for the election, to be followed by the run-off on April 24th.

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French PM says new government names will be revealed 'before Sunday'

Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s office said on Thursday that he would “go to the Elysée to propose to the president a government that is ready to serve France”.

After a meeting earlier on Thursday afternoon with the heads of political parties, Barner then travelled to the Elysée Palace on Thursday evening to meet president Emmanuel Macron.

Their meeting lasted for just under an hour and at the end journalists saw Macron showing Barnier out saying Merci beaucoup, à demain (thanks very much, see you tomorrow).

After the meeting, Barnier’s office said he had had a “constructive exchange” with the president and that the full list of names of the new ministers will be made public “before Sunday, after the usual checks have been made”.

French media reported that the full list of 38 names, of which 16 will be full minsters, includes seven ministers from Macron’s centrist group, two from fellow centrists MoDem and three from Barnier’s own party, the right-wing Les Républicains.

Listen to John Lichfield discussing the challenges that Barnier faces in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast – download here or listen on the link below

Barnier’s statement said that “after two weeks of intensive consultations with the different political groups” he has found the architecture of his new government, adding that his priorities would be to;

Improve the standard of living for the French and the workings of public services, especially schools and healthcare
Guarantee security, control immigration and improve integration
Encourage businesses and agriculture and build upon the economic attractiveness of France
Get public finances under control and reduce debt

France has been in a state of limbo ever since parliamentary elections in July produced a deadlock with no group coming close to winning enough seats for a majority.

A caretaker government remained in place over the summer while president Emmanuel Macron declared an ‘Olympics truce’.

He finally appointed the right-wing former minister and ex-Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on September 5th.

Barnier has spent the last two weeks in intense negotiations in his attempt to form a government that won’t immediately be brought down through a motion of no-confidence in parliament.

Numerous left-wing politicians are reported to have refused to serve in his government while several high-profile Macronists have also ruled themselves out, including long-serving finance minister Bruno Le Maire who last week announced that he was quitting politics.

The reported make up of the new government does not reflect the election result – in which the leftist Nouveau Front Populaire coalition came first, followed by Macron’s centrists with the far-right Rassemblement National in third – but Barnier’s hope is that enough MPs will support it to avoid an immediate motion de censure (vote of no confidence).

The government’s first task will be to prepare the 2025 budget, which is already a week late. France’s soaring budget deficit and threat of a downgrade from ratings agencies mean that it will be a tricky task with Barnier, who has prepared the ground for tax hikes by warning that the situation is ‘very serious’.

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