Following France’s lowest voter turnout since the COVID pandemic, Eve Irvine is pleased to welcome Dr. Andrew Smith, Historian of Modern France and Lecturer in Liberal Arts at Queen Mary University of London. According to Dr. Smith, the defining feature of these municipal elections is not the performance of any single political force. The level of abstention marked the elections more than any other storyline: With roughly 44% of voters staying away, turnout has dropped dramatically compared with earlier decades when participation often exceeded sixty percent and even approached eighty percent in the 1980s. In that sense, could these elections be regarded as a “dress rehearsal” ahead of the 2027 Presidential Election, one that was sparsely attended?
