The evening meal promises to be tense… This Sunday, April 24, Anne Hidalgo went early in the morning to her polling station in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. The socialist, humiliated in the first round of the presidential election with only 1.7% of the vote, called to vote for the current president Emmanuel Macron against the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen. But his appeal did not convince his own son…
Indeed, the young Arthur Germain caused controversy on Twitter by announcing that he would abstain. The son of the mayor of Paris – who was not even sure to vote for her in the first round! – and her husband Jean-Marc Germain insisted on explaining this decried choice. “I will not vote in the 2nd round of the #presidentielles2022. The politicians are reformist. I am for a radical and in-depth transformation of society. We will not solve the basic problems by putting a paper in a ballot box every 5 years. Politicians and the media impose ideas on us, dictate and insidiously control our choices. We put people in boxes, we stigmatize them if they move away from the doxa. We are even made to believe that it is to preserve democracy. #Elections2022“, he writes.
Arthur Germain, a young green athlete adept at challenges, does not seem to be attracted to the second round poster and has therefore chosen not to travel. Despite constant criticism and pressure on voters from eliminated parties called to block the far right, which has never been so close to the gates of power, the young man refuses to be beaten up. He adds : “To abstain is not to be selfish, selfless or unconscious. It is to want another system and this other system is deeply incompatible with politics as it exists today. Regardless of the outcome, I will not recognize the person elected as my president. I will put all my energy into creating a new societal model.“
It remains to be seen whether the millions of voters frustrated or disappointed with the result of the first round will also play the abstention card. At 12 p.m., the national participation was 26.4%, one point more than on April 10 but two points less than in 2017…