Ballotage in France: polling stations began to close and counting begins

The second round between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen entered a decisive stage: polling stations have already been closed in most of France, only in the big cities is there still a vote and the ballot started.

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, participation in the second round reached 63.23% at 17 o'clock, two points lower than in 2017 (65.3%). This figure also represents a decrease of almost two points compared to participation at the same time in the first round (65%).

As in 2017, the 49 million French had to choose between the current president and the right-wing candidate. However, five years later, France is not the same country: social protests marked the first half of Macron's term, a global pandemic confined millions of people, and the Russian offensive in Ukraine shook the European continent hard.

The war at the gates of the European Union (EU) flew over the campaign, although the main concern of the French was their purchasing power, in a context of rising energy and food prices.

Beyond choosing between two models of society, voters have in their hands to choose what place in the world they want for this economic and nuclear power until 2027, a decision that could involve changes in alliances if Le Pen wins.

The heiress of the National Front proposes to inscribe the “national priority” in the Constitution, to exclude foreigners from social assistance, and advocates abandoning NATO's integrated command and reducing the competences of the EU.

The outgoing president instead advocates more Europe, whether in economic, social or defence matters, and recovering his reformist and liberal momentum, with his flagship proposal to delay the retirement age from 62 to 65 years, which in 2020 already created massive protests.

“Between plague and cholera, we must make the right choice,” said Pierre Charollais, a 67-year-old retiree in Rennes (west), advocating a “responsible vote” in a “particular” context because of the war in Ukraine and the French presidency of the EU.

All the polls predict a victory for the current president, although with a much smaller difference than he achieved in 2017, when he doubled his rival in votes (66.1% versus 33.90%).

Now, the latest polls published on Friday gave him the winner with a range of between 53.5% and 57.5% of the votes, although the number of undecided is high. In addition, a high rate of abstention is expected, which could be even higher than in the first round, when one in four registered in the census did not go to the polls.

Unlike what he did at the beginning of the campaign, Macron for this second round was fully involved and managed to expand the mattress with respect to Le Pen, according to those polls.

The president, who aspires to be the first to revalidate his term without having had a cohabitation (a government of a different political color to his own), has warned in recent days of the risk of overconfidence, which may result in a surprise that he has compared to that of the Brexit referendum in 2015 in the United Kingdom or the election of Donald Trump in the United States the following year.

In the last fortnight, he has endeavored to highlight the risks involved in the election of Le Pen, which in his opinion would fracture French society with its attacks on immigrants or with its project to ban the Islamic veil in the streets, and which would entail France's exit from the European Union, because it would give priority to national law on the Community and would cut the Gala contribution to the budget.

The far-right candidate has also played the attack, with harsh accusations of Macron's plan to delay retirement age to 65 and criticizing her “arrogant” and “haughty” attitude.

She has presented herself as the people's spokesperson, defended her tax cuts on fuels and a hundred commodities to counter inflation, and promised to protect the French against globalization, unlike her rival, whom she accuses of being “the candidate of the elites”. A strategy that has placed him closer than ever to victory, but according to the polls still below 50% of the votes.

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