The mobilization or not of abstentionists is one of the challenges of the upcoming legislative elections in France. In the rural village of Bouër, in Sarthe, 40 km from Le Mans, more than 61% of the 350 inhabitants did not go to the polls during the European elections of June 9, the department’s abstention record and a higher rate 13 points below the national average. Will the upcoming election, more local than the Europeans and marked by strong polarization, arouse more enthusiasm among these abstainers? Meet some of them.
Bouër is a main street with the town hall, the church, a few houses, the rest of the inhabitants are scattered in hamlets. No shops and no school, despite the hundred or so children in the town. For schooling and services, you have to drive 5 to 40 minutes, but residents say they cope quite well, except for access to care.
On the tractor, Léo, a farm worker, is already disillusioned with politics at the age of 20: “ I don’t see the point in voting, no. There is no part, no person that I am attracted to. They are not grappling with realism, they don’t see the work we do. That’s Parisian, they don’t know the value of things. It’s blah-blah, it won’t change anything and we’re fed up. »
In the Courgeon vegetable garden, Cédric, 50, and his wife Anne work hard to make a living from their vegetables. The last time they voted was for the Macron-Le Pen second round in the 2022 presidential election: “ It’s been at least 20 years since I last voted. I have always been against Macron and it was precisely so that he would not be re-elected that we went back to vote. Today, we’re cutting all that short, because we’re not being listened to. »
“ For me the elections are rigged »
The disappointment was such that Cédric now harbors a deep mistrust of the electoral process. So even if Jordan Bardella’s National Rally has never been so close to power, it will abstain: “ For me the elections are rigged, they count at 8 p.m. and we see that at 8:02 p.m., they already know the name of the President of the Republic. So, even if I travel to vote, I am not sure that my vote will reach Paris. And if she is elected, it will not change anything about France’s problem, because no one keeps their promise. We can already see Bardella backtracking, so why move around and waste time going to vote. »
Usually faithful to the polls, Nicolas did not vote for the Europeans, “ an oversight due to a family celebration “, he said. But for the legislative elections, the farmer hesitates. He, who does not identify with any of the three main blocs, has difficulty supporting the dramatization of the campaign and the injunctions to vote. “ For the moment, we are not talking about a program, we are talking about the New Popular Front against the National Rally, that’s all. The programs, nothing, we are told about putting up a barrier against the extreme right, a barrier against the extreme right. Suddenly, we no longer know where to make the barrier, explains Nicolas. Ah, yes, we are told to vote for the majority. I have the impression that we are taken for pigeons. »
He will therefore decide at the last moment: “ it will depend on the weather, we might have some work in the fields… it’s been raining for a while so we’ll see. »