Electoral abstention in France
This article provides various information and statistics on abstention during elections, referendums and local consultations in France (French: Abstention électorale en France).
"Registration on the electoral roll is mandatory" under Article L9 of the Electoral Code, but no sanctions are provided for.[1] Since 1997, the law provides for the automatic registration on the electoral roll of the municipality of residence of persons who meet the required age conditions.
In France, voting is not mandatory in the legal sense: "voting is a right, it is also a civic duty" is written on the voter invitation card.[2] It is only mandatory in senatorial elections for major electors (deputies and municipal, departmental and regional councillors) who are fined 100 euros in the event of abstention, since a law passed in 2004.[3]
Calculation of the abstention rate
[edit]General
[edit]The abstention rate can be calculated in different ways. In France, the ratio is established by comparing the number of citizens who abstained from voting to the number of those registered on the electoral lists, on the date of the election. People who are not registered on the electoral lists are therefore not counted in the abstention figures. Blank and invalid votes are also not counted.[citation needed]
Estimate of non-registered persons
[edit]"Registration on the electoral roll is mandatory" under Article L9 of the Electoral Code, but no sanctions are provided for.[1] Since 1997, the law provides for the automatic registration on the electoral roll of the municipality of domicile of persons who meet the required age conditions. This concerns young people in the year following their electoral majority.
According to several INSEE studies, around 4.9 million French people are not registered on the electoral rolls or believe they are not (2004 data), a figure which varies between 10% and 13.3% of the electorate over the last nine years.
In 2007, the electorate was estimated to comprise 44.5 million voters for 62 million inhabitants.
In 2016, the electorate was estimated to consist of 44.834 million voters for 66 million inhabitants.[citation needed]
In 2018, the electoral body was estimated to include 45.448 million voters for 67 million inhabitants.[4]
At 14 April 2019, the electoral body comprised 47.148 million voters for 67 million inhabitants.[5]
Abstention rate
[edit]Since 1848
[edit]The abstention rate has varied considerably since the introduction of direct universal (male) suffrage in France. The enthusiasm perceptible at the 1848 French Constituent Assembly election (18.3% abstention) quickly gave way to disenchantment, especially after the June Days uprising and the 45 centime tax. From the summer, abstentionism soared during local elections: around 37% in municipal elections, then 62% for general councils, and finally 73% for district councils. The presidential election in December regained some favour, with only 25% abstention. But from 1849, the legislative elections experienced a decline: 32% abstentionism, or 14 points more than a year earlier. The sequel was mixed: the very low abstention rates observed in each plebiscite of 1851, 1852 and 1870 were contrasted by a civic languor in the legislative elections, against which the Second Empire tried to fight. The liberalization of the regime would allow a return to civic life; abstentionism fell to barely more than 25% in the municipal elections of 1865,[citation needed] and to 22% in the last legislative elections, those of 1869.
The French Third Republic saw the triumph of civic-mindedness in the main election, the legislative elections, but also, a much more counterintuitive phenomenon, in the municipal elections. With ups and downs for the former, while participation in the latter never weakened (from 74.5% in 1874 to 78% in 1912).According to the expression dedicated to the legislative elections, the combat elections (1876, 1877, 1885, 1889, 1902, 1906) contrasted with the appeasement elections (1881, 1893, 1898, 1910, 1914) among other things by their better participation. On the other hand, participation in the two other types of election practiced at the time (that of the district and departmental councils) fell until the turn of the century, then remained stable. Within the Third Republic, the interwar period was the golden age of participation. As early as 1924, the legislative elections saw abstentions drop to less than 17% of registered voters; the municipal elections followed very closely, at less than 17.5%. Finally, the 1930s saw an exacerbation of political life, to the point of reaching an absolute record for participation in legislative elections in France in 1936 (only 15.8% abstention in metropolitan France in the first round, 15.6% in the second round), while participation in the election of district councils tended to catch up with that of general councils, which itself approached that in the legislative elections (22.5% in 1937, the absolute record for participation in departmental elections in France).[citation needed]
The rest is much more eventful. The repetition of political elections in 1946 is considered by all historians to have tired public opinion. However, the abstentions in the legislative elections of November 1946 did not reach 22%. On the other hand, the disappearance of the district councils did not prevent the departmental elections, now called cantonal, from gradually returning to their cruising speed of the Third Republic, with more than 40% abstention.
The repeated consultations from 1958 to 1962 ended up causing a real civic decline, with a very notable 31.3% abstention rate in the legislative elections of November 1962 - as would be all rates in legislative elections exceeding 30%. But it was the introduction of direct suffrage in the election of the President of the Republic that would end up widening the gaps in participation between the different types of ballot. Not immediately, but after the legislative elections of 1986, the last to be above 70% participation. In the subsequent period, there would sometimes be more than double the abstention rate in cantonal, regional or European elections compared to the main election of the French Fifth Republic, the presidential election.
European elections
[edit]
| Date | Abstention |
|---|---|
| June 12, 1979 | 39.29% |
| June 17, 1984 | 43.28% |
| June 10, 1989 | 51.2% |
| June 12, 1994 | 47.24% |
| June 13, 1999 | 53.24% |
| June 13, 2004 | 57.24% |
| June 7, 2009 | 59.37% |
| May 25, 2014 | 57.57% |
| May 26, 2019 | 49.88% |
| June 9, 2024 | 48.51% |
Presidential elections
[edit]
| Year | Date | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | December 5 (first round) | 15.25% |
| December 19 (second round) | 15.78% | |
| 1969 | June 1 ( first round) | 22.41% |
| June 15 (second round) | 31.15% | |
| 1974 | May 5 (first round) | 15.77% |
| May 19 (second round) | 12.67% | |
| 1981 | April 24 (first round) | 18.91% |
| May 10 (second round) | 14.65% | |
| 1988 | April 24 (first round) | 18.62% |
| May 8 (second round) | 15.94% | |
| 1995 | April 23 (first round) | 21.62% |
| May 7 (second round) | 20.34% | |
| 2002 | April 21 (first round) | 28.4% |
| May 5 (second round) | 20.29% | |
| 2007 | April 22 (first round) | 16.23% |
| May 6 (second round) | 16.03% | |
| 2012 | April 22 (first round) | 20.52% |
| May 6 (second round) | 19.65% | |
| 2017 | April 23 (first round) | 22.23%[6] |
| May 7 (second round) | 25.44% | |
| 2022 | April 10 (first round) | 26.31%[7] |
| April 24 (second round) | 28.01% |
Legislative elections
[edit]
| Year | Date | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | November 23 (first round) | 22.82% |
| November 30 (second round) | 23.68% | |
| 1962 | November 18 (first round) | 31.3% |
| November 25 (second round) | 28.0% | |
| 1967 | March 5 (first round) | 19.11% |
| March 12 (second round) | 20.27% | |
| 1968 | June 23 (first round) | 19.99% |
| June 30 (second round) | 22.18% | |
| 1973 | March 4 (first round) | 19.76% |
| March 11 (second round) | 19.11% | |
| 1978 | March 12 (first round) | 17.22% |
| March 19 (second round) | 15.34% | |
| 1981 | June 14 (first round) | 29.35% |
| June 21 (second round) | 25.54% | |
| 1986 | March 16 | 21.5% |
| No second round: proportional voting | ||
| 1988 | June 5 (first round) | 34.26% |
| June 12 (second round) | 30.11% | |
| 1993 | March 21 (first round) | 31.05% |
| March 28 (second round) | 32.62% | |
| 1997 | May 25 (first round) | 32.08% |
| June 1 ( second round) | 28.92% | |
| 2002 | June 9 (first round) | 35.58% |
| June 16 (second round) | 39.68% | |
| 2007 | June 10 (first round) | 39.56% |
| June 17 (second round) | 40.01% | |
| 2012 | June 10 (first round) | 42.78% |
| June 17 (second round) | 44.60% | |
| 2017 | June 11 (first round) | 51.3%[8] |
| June 18 (second round) | 57.36% | |
| 2022 | June 12 (first round) | 52.49%[9] |
| June 19 (second round) | 53.77% | |
| 2024 | June 30 (first round) | 33.29%[10] |
| July 7 (second round) | 33.37% | |
Regional elections
[edit]
| Year | Date | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | March 16 (single round) | 21.73% |
| 1992 | March 22 (single round) | 31.37% |
| 1998 | March 15 (single round) | 41.97% |
| 2004 | March 21 (first round) | 39.16% |
| March 28 (second round) | 34.34% | |
| 2010 | March 14 (first round) | 53.67% |
| March 21 (second round) | 48.79% | |
| 2015 | December 6 (first round) | 50.09% |
| December 13 (second round) | 41.59% | |
| 2021 | June 20 (first round) | 66.72% |
| June 27 (second round) | 65.31%[11] |
Departmental elections
[edit]From 1833 to 2014, this ballot was called “cantonal elections”, then “departmental elections” from 2015 following the cantonal redistricting of 2014.
| Year | Date | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | March 11 (first round) | 34.52% |
| March 18 (second round) | 43.75% | |
| 2004 | March 21 (first round) | 36.09% |
| March 28 (second round) | 33.52% | |
| 2008 | March 9 (first round) | 35.11% |
| March 16 (second round) | 44.55% | |
| 2011 | March 20 (first round) | 55.68% |
| March 27 (second round) | 55.23% | |
| 2015 | March 22 (first round) | 49.83% |
| March 29 (second round) | 50.02% | |
| 2021 | June 20 (first round) | 66.68% |
| June 27 (second round) | 65.64% |
Municipal elections
[edit]
| Year | Date | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | First round | 25.2% |
| Second round | 26.1% | |
| 1965 | First round | 21.8% |
| Second round | 29.2% | |
| 1971 | First round | 24.8% |
| Second round | 26.4% | |
| 1977 | First round | 21.1% |
| Second round | 22.4% | |
| 1983 | First round | 21.6% |
| Second round | 20.3% | |
| 1989 | First round | 27.2% |
| Second round | 26.9% | |
| 1995 | First round | 30.6% |
| Second round | 30% | |
| 2001 | First round | 32.6% |
| Second round | 31% | |
| 2008 | First round | 33.46% |
| Second round | 34.8% | |
| 2014 | First round | 36.45% |
| Second round | 37.87% | |
| 2020 | First round | 55.25% |
| Second round | 58.6% |
Referendums
[edit]| Date | Subject | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| September 28, 1958 | Constitutional referendum: Constitution of October 4, 1958 (Fifth Republic) | 19.37% |
| January 8, 1961 | 1962 Algerian independence referendum: Self-determination of Algeria | 26.25% |
| April 8, 1962 | Evian Accords | 24.67% |
| October 28, 1962 | Constitutional referendum: election by direct universal suffrage of the President of the French Republic | 23.03% |
| April 27, 1969 | Constitutional referendum: creation of regions and reform of the Senate | 19.87% |
| April 23, 1972 | 1972 French European Communities enlargement referendum: Enlargement of the European Communities | 39.76% |
| November 3, 1988 | Self-determination of New Caledonia | 63.11% |
| September 20, 1992 | Treaty of Maastricht | 30.3% |
| September 24, 2000 | Constitutional referendum: presidential five-year term | 69.81% |
| May 29, 2005 | Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe | 30.67% |
Local consultations
[edit]| Date | Subject | Abstention |
|---|---|---|
| July 6, 2003 | 2003 referendum in Corsica: merger of the two general councils of Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud within a single territorial collectivity | 39.17% |
| December 7, 2003 | Consultations on changes to territorial status in Overseas France: creation of an overseas collectivity in Saint-Martin | 55.82% |
| December 7, 2003 | Consultations on changes to territorial status in Overseas France: creation of an overseas collectivity in Saint-Barthélemy | 21.29% |
| December 7, 2003 | Consultations on changes to territorial status in Overseas Territories: creation of a single territorial authority in Guadeloupe | 49.66% |
| December 7, 2003 | Consultations on changes to territorial status in Overseas Territories: creation of a single territorial authority in Martinique | 56.06% |
| January 10, 2010 | Guyanese referendum (1st referendum): greater autonomy for the region | 51.84% |
| January 10, 2010 | Martinique referendum (1st referendum): greater autonomy for the region | 44.65% |
| January 24, 2010 | Guyanese referendum (2nd referendum): merger of the single department and the region into a single territorial community | 72.58% |
| January 24, 2010 | Martinique referendum (2nd referendum): merger of the single department and the region into a single territorial community | 64.19% |
| April 7, 2013 | Referendum on the Territorial Community of Alsace | 64.04% |
Reasons for abstention
[edit] | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2025) |
General causes
[edit]In France, abstention would be influenced by a feeling of political non-representation, on four points:
- Peaceful transition of power seems quite useless when it does not solve major problems like unemployment[citation needed]
- The distrust of the French population towards political representatives due to the succession of scandals[12] and financial affairs.
- The behaviour of political parties would distance politicians from the real problems of society.[13]
- Voter disengagement.[14]
The level of socio-professional category would affect abstentionism in France: the people with “low” socioeconomic status abstain more while the people with a high level of education are more involved in politics.[15]
In a study published in early 2015, political science researcher Vincent Pons states that: "We often tend to overestimate the political motives for abstention, while the sociological component is also very strong ." While participation was homogeneous in 2012, participation fluctuated at the national level between 64% and 94% (a range of 30%), in 2014, the spectrum widened to between 34% and 82% (a range of 48%) based on the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 European elections. Using the non-specific case of Perpignan and the Pyrénées-Orientales department , he observed that the range is all the greater when overall participation is low, particularly in urban areas. Thus, the differential goes from 4 points in 2012 to 9 points in 2014 for the Pyrénées-Orientales. In the case of the city of Perpignan, he observes that in 2014 the decline particularly hit the areas where the winning party in the 2012 presidential election had won.[16]
Analysis of the 2017 elections
[edit]While the second round of the 2017 legislative elections set a new record for abstention for this type of vote, Céline Braconnier believes that she was helped by the previously un-divisive profile of President Emmanuel Macron: "Many tell us they expect to be 'hit hard'. But Emmanuel Macron is not divisive enough to mobilize them against him. These abstainers are in a state of indifference tinged with apprehension, but not in the opposition.[17] Abstention is particularly high among those under 30: " Young people no longer vote when they don't understand why they are being asked to go to the polls. Older people still go out of duty and can't bring their children to vote. For the presidential election [2017], we saw families vote. There, only parents voted".[18] In 2023, Jean Massiet, a political popularization streamer on the Twitch platform , estimates that "young people love politics […], on the other hand [they] shun traditional forms of politics, that is to say the good old ballot paper, membership cards to a party or a union".[19]
In 2017, abstention during the presidential election amounted to 22.23% on April 23 (first round) and at 25.44% the May 7 (second round) or more than one in four French voters.[20]
Voters were able to vote in four elections: two for the presidential election and two for the legislative elections. Insee analysed abstentions in these elections:[21] 14% of voters abstained in all rounds of voting and 86% voted in at least one of the four rounds; 35% voted in all rounds of the elections and 51% voted intermittently. Two out of ten registered voters only voted in the two rounds of the presidential election. The legislative elections mobilize much less than the presidential elections: 85% of registered voters voted at least once in the presidential election compared to 58% in the legislative elections. Registered voters who systematically abstain in the 2017 elections are more often young (under 30) or old (80 or over), they are also more often without qualifications, they have a lower standard of living and are more often inactive or workers than other registered voters.
Political science researchers Céline Braconnier and Jean-Yves Dormagen noted that during the 2017 presidential election, the two test polling stations they studied over the long term, one in the Parisian district of The Marais and the other in the Cosmonautes district of Saint-Denis, that participation reached 85.3% in the first and only 65.2% in Saint-Denis. They noted that a retired person with a higher education qualification, aged between 65 and 70, had a 98% probability of having voted in the first round of the 2012 presidential election, while a non-qualified worker, aged between 18 and 24, had a 33% probability of having abstained. Youth, lack of education, as well as belonging to the working classes are all factors that encourage abstention.[22] If the office studied in Saint-Denis placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the lead with 48.5% of the votes and that of Paris Emmanuel Macron with 46.1% of the votes, the researchers note that the difference in participation benefits the candidate of En Marche!.[22]
Analysis of abstention in the 2022 elections
[edit]In 2022, a presidential election (2 rounds) and legislative elections (2 rounds) took place. INSEE devoted a study to abstention[23] during these elections, which revealed:
- permanence or intermittence of abstention: 16% of registered voters did not vote in any round of these elections, 36% voted in all rounds and 48% voted intermittently.
- Higher abstention for legislative elections: "for all ages, it is more common to vote in the presidential election than in the legislative elections, but the preference for the presidential election is all the more marked when the registered voters are young. Thus, among registered voters under 30, 74% voted at least once in the presidential election compared to 35% in the legislative elections, a gap of almost 40 points."
- Participation increases with the standard of living and qualifications: "30% systematic abstention among registered non-graduates, compared to 10% among higher education graduates. Systematic abstention is particularly high in priority neighbourhoods of the city policy and in the overseas departments.
Special cases
[edit]
Céline Braconnier and Jean-Yves Dormagen have studied over a long period the city of Cosmonauts in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris.[24][15]
In the second round of the 2017 French legislative election, not one of the fifteen registered voters in the Drôme village of Pennes-le-Sec cast a ballot, representing an abstention rate of 100%.[25] On the contrary, all the voters, around forty people, in the village of Le Champ-de-la-Pierre in Orne have taken to voting in every election, representing a participation rate of 100%.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Article L9 du code électoral". www.legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
- ^ "Le droit de vote est-il un devoir ?". vie-publique.fr. 30 May 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Article L318 du code électoral". legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ "Recul du nombre d'électeurs en 2018 - Insee Focus - 112". www.insee.fr. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "47,1 millions d'électeurs présents en avril 2019 sur les listes électorales françaises - Insee Focus - 154". www.insee.fr. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2017". www.interieur.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ "Election présidentielle 2022". archive.wikiwix.com. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ Ministère de l'Intérieur et des Outre-mer. "Les archives des élections en France". www.archives-resultats-elections.interieur.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2025-02-15. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ Ministère de l'Intérieur et des Outre-mer. "Les archives des élections en France". www.archives-resultats-elections.interieur.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ "Législatives 2024 : les résultats du premier tour". archive.wikiwix.com. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ "Régionales et départementales 2021 : vers un nouveau record d'abstention au second tour". Le Figaro (in French). 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2025-03-05.
- ^ "Représentants politiques : les raisons d'une crise de confiance". France Culture. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ Yves Sintomer (12 March 2021). "Décision publique et participation citoyenne en Europe". vie-publique.fr. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
Pire, avec la perte croissante de substance et de légitimité des partis politiques, [les systèmes politiques mis en place après la Seconde Guerre mondiale] semblent de plus en plus éloignés des citoyens ordinaires.
- ^ "Élections régionales : le désengagement démocratique". Le Monde. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ a b Claude Poliak; Cécile Braconnier et Jean-Yves Dormagen, Paris (2007). "La démocratie de l'abstention". Savoir/Agir (1). Folio Gallimard: 79-81. doi:10.3917/sava.001.0079.
- ^ hélène Bekmezian (15 March 2015). "L'abstention et ses territoires". lemonde.fr. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ Lilian Alemagna (18 June 2017). "Céline Braconnier : «Macron n'est pas assez clivant pour mobiliser contre lui»". liberation.fr. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
- ^ "celine-braconnier-macron-n-est-pas-assez-clivant-pour-mobiliser-contre-lui". archive.is. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
- ^ Mayr, Géraldine (2023-06-02). "Jean Massiet : "Les jeunes adorent la politique mais ils en boudent les formes traditionnelles"". ici (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-01.
- ^ Sarah Belouezzane (7 May 2017). "Présidentielle 2017 : abstention record pour un second tour depuis l'élection de 1969". Le Monde.
- ^ Guillemette Buisson et Sandrine Penant (19 October 2017). "Élections présidentielle et législatives de 2017 : neuf inscrits sur dix ont voté à au moins un tour de scrutin". insee.fr. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
- ^ a b Braconnier, Céline; Dormagen, Jean-Yves (25 April 2017). "" La croissance des inégalités de participation n'épargne pas la présidentielle "". lemonde.fr. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- ^ Kilian Bloch (INSEE) (November 2022). "Élections présidentielle et législatives de 2022 : seul un tiers des électeurs a voté à tous les tours". INSEE Première. 1928 (1928).
- ^ Braconnier, Céline; Dormagen, Jean-Yves (May 2014). "Ce que s'abstenir veut dire". Le Monde diplomatique (in French).
- ^ Méjean, Gérard (2017-06-23). "Législatives : le village aux 100 % d'abstention". Le Monde.fr (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
External links
[edit]- L'abstention aux élections sous la Ve République
- Laurent de Boissieu (18 September 2016). "Participation et abstention aux élections". France politique. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- https://www.dicopart.fr/abstention-2013
- Frédéric Salmon. "Une rétrospective sur la participation électorale en France". geoelections. Retrieved 17 December 2024.