Stanley did not vote in the first round of the presidential election on 10 April, and he said he would not vote in the second round on 24 April either. The 27-year-old from Bobigny, north of Paris, stands by his decision. As a young father who had just finished his studies, he was interested in politics. But he had been “disappointed” by the left since the five-year term of socialist president François Hollande – presented by many as having hammered the last nail into the left’s coffin. In Seine-Saint-Denis, the département north of Paris, abstention was up by three points in the first round, rising above 30% – the highest rate in mainland France.
Asked why he would not turn out to vote on Sunday, Stanley summed up a sombre track-record for the incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron. “The rich have got even richer, and the poor even poorer,” he said. Since the Covid pandemic, between 5 and 7 million people – 10% of the population – have had to ask for help at a food bank, according to figures from the charity Secours Catholique.
