Aminata was feeling “pretty frustrated” as she made her way home from her law studies class. The 19-year-old had been excited to vote for the first time in the French presidential election and had been glued to it on social media, but her candidate, the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, had missed the final by just over one percentage point. “I’m gutted,” she said.
She is now one of the millions of Mélenchon-fan kingmakers whose second-round vote could decide the election as Emmanuel Macron tries to win them over in order to hold back the far-right Marine Le Pen. “Not a single vote for Le Pen!” Mélenchon thundered to his supporters after polls showed up to one-third of them might be tempted to give an “anti-system” vote to Le Pen because they despised Macron.
“Of course, I’ll now vote for Macron without a second’s hesitation – not for his platform but to keep out Le Pen, otherwise we’ll drift into far-right dictatorship,” Aminata said. She hoped to work abroad, but if Le Pen was elected she feared having to cut short her studies and leave France straight away. Aminata wears a Muslim headscarf, which Le Pen wants to ban from all public spaces, including the street. “My mum is an accountant, she lived through the difficulties of home-working during Covid and thinks Macron handled that well,” Aminata said. “But I felt Mélenchon was a vote of hope for young people; he was the only candidate with a real anti-racism platform and he came so close.”
Mélechon had a historically high score in the département of Seine-Saint-Denis, the traditionally leftwing bastion north of Paris, whose pockets of high-rise estates are among the most deprived in France. Across the whole of Seine-Saint-Denis, Mélenchon took 49% of the vote – far ahead of Macron on 20% and Le Pen on 11%. But it was in the small Seine-Saint-Denis town of Villetaneuse, population 13,000, that Mélenchon reached one of the highest national scores: 65%.
Its residents were now mulling over what to do. Aliya, 19, a law student who had voted Mélenchon alongside her mother, a district nurse, would now choose Macron in order to block Le Pen. “It’s a no-brainer – Le Pen’s anti-immigration programme against foreigners is unconstitutional, and runs counter to people’s religious freedoms to wear a headscarf. I’ll vote Macron to keep Le Pen out and everyone I know will do the same.”
The youth vote will be crucial over the next two weeks. Mélenchon came top among 18-24-year-olds in France, taking 31% support. Young people’s second favourite candidate was Le Pen, with 26%, followed by Macron with only 20%. But low turnout among 18-24s will be a key factor in the second round – 42% of young people failed to vote in the first round and it remains to be seen whether they will now mobilise.
“I’m worried about people not bothering to turn out to vote in the final round,” said Amin, 24, outside a supermarket. “I voted Mélenchon because he was fighting for equality and there were a load of racists running for president,” he said, referring to Le Pen and the far-right TV pundit Éric Zemmour. “I’m wondering what to do myself, whether to vote Macron or just a blank ballot.”
Turnout in Seine-Saint-Denis as a whole had been historically low in the first round – 30% of people didn’t vote, and Amin feared they wouldn’t mobilise. It was Macron’s Covid vaccine pass that had upset him, which had been required for entry to cafés, restaurants and a host of public spaces, with the centrist president saying he wanted to put the non-vaccinated “in the shit”.
Amin had a long-term health condition that meant he could not get vaccinated, and was also vulnerable to Covid. “I felt stigmatised,” he said. Being a student in lockdown was difficult, he had dropped out of engineering and recently switched to a communications course, as he raises a young baby with his student partner, “which is also very hard”. His father, who works on building sites, also voted Mélenchon. “I think I’ll have to vote Macron in the end because the far-right rhetoric of this campaign has been very hateful and virulent. That risks leaving its mark on a country as diverse as France.”
Ishika, 18, a university student, said she had voted for Le Pen, despite most of her friends choosing Mélenchon. Her parents were originally from Mauritius and her pro-Macron father, who worked in a car-hire firm, had tried to persuade her against the far right. “Marine says that no one under 30 would pay income tax, which I agree with,” she said. “I also do think France has let in too many foreigners.” She was angry with Macron over the Covid vaccine pass. “I didn’t want to get vaccinated, so for ages couldn’t go the gym or restaurants,” she said. But she completely disagreed with Le Pen’s ban on the Muslim headscarf. “That is stigmatising – but it’s also so far-fetched that I don’t think she’ll be able to actually ever carry that out.”
Myriam 19, a law student, had also voted Le Pen. Her brother voted Mélenchon and tried to persuade her against Le Pen because their Algerian grandmother in Seine-Saint-Denis wears the hijab. “But I don’t think Le Pen is as bad as everyone says,” she said. “And I don’t think she’ll really go as far as banning headscarves.”
