VIDEO – “It doesn’t make you want”, “I don’t care” … Who are these French people who abstain from voting?

On June 20, in the second round of regional and departmental elections, more than 66% of French people did not go to the polls. A historic abstention, but not so surprising given the previous votes. So, less than 100 days before the presidential election, the 20H of TF1 met some of these voters.

About fifteen kilometers from Lille (North), near the Franco-Belgian border, we met Dimitri Taisne, 40, father of two children. He works as a client advisor. And if he is involved in community life as president of a sports club, concerning democratic life, he is much more distant and only votes very rarely.

“I don’t have the keys. They didn’t give me any meaning, they didn’t give me any explanations from the moment we receive the leaflets. I don’t see at all what we expect about me and what I can change with my voice “, he confides in the report at the top of this article. This is why he abstains from the European, departmental and regional elections. But for the next April poll, however, he promises: “the presidential election, I will go and vote”.

Like Dimitri, in the small town of Baisieux, 4,700 inhabitants, as in all of France, two out of three voters did not come to vote last June. A level of abstention never reached in all elections. “We believe in it less and less. There is not much being done, especially for us, the means, the workers, those who have always worked”, judge a resident.

For the mayor of the town, Philippe Limousin, it is up to elected officials to bring citizens back to the polls by involving them in decisions via neighborhood councils, for example. “Apart from the moment when we talk to them about their home, their problems (…) it should help bring more citizens to the polls, I hope”, indicates the city councilor.

A phenomenon is particularly worrying: in rural areas as in cities, the category of young people is particularly lacking when it comes to going to the polls. Last June, nationally, 82% of 18-35 year olds did not go to vote. It is even more than 90% in certain districts of Lille. How to explain it?

In France, 11 million voters are under 35 years old. But for the vast majority of them, voting is not even a topic. “I’ve never been to vote. I don’t really care.”, explains Timothé, barber in Lille.

A disinterest which does not necessarily depend on the level of education of the potential voters. Illustration with the example of Victor, 22 years old, holder of a degree in Communication and Marketing and part-time employee of a restaurant. He stresses that despite the ten or so candidates already declared for the presidential election, none finds favor in his eyes.

“I don’t feel represented. There are values ​​that I carry that are not theirs. Or the other way around. And it doesn’t make me want to vote for them”, he explains.

Taking into account blank ballots, electronic voting, compulsory voting … Beyond the ideas put forward here and there to breathe new life into this democratic exercise, the hunt for votes takes place in the streets. Thus, in Roubaix, city champion of abstention in France, an association beats the recall before each ballot. “Are you interested in coming and discussing with us? We are not politicized”, launches a volunteer to a 21-year-old youngster whom she calls out in the street.

“You have to go to the polls, only the ballot boxes speak. Because the change is us, the citizens”, judge Nora Morvany-Sehiri, volunteer at the Servir neighborhood committee.

On April 10 and 24, for the presidential election, more than 47 million voters are called to vote.