2024 Legislative Elections. “We are at a turning point”: Alençon voters flock to the polls

It was necessary to be armed with a little patience, Sunday, June 30, to go and vote at the Émile-Dupont school, in the city center of Alençon (Orne). Throughout the day, for the first round of the 2024 legislative elections, a queue was forming at this polling station. “Usually, we have short breaks, but today, there were no moments of respite,” said one of the assessors.

“People who hadn’t voted for a very long time”

An experience that is not limited to this office. The mobilization for this first round of legislative elections is in sharp increase compared to the 2022 election. “There are notably a greater number of proxies,” noted Stéphanie Koukougnon, a municipal councillor mobilised at the Halle aux Toiles polling station, late in the morning. “Among voters, there is a return to the importance of expressing a choice and the right to decide.”

This increase in participation comes three weeks after the large victory of the National Rally in the European elections. “The election concerns us all, it is an important civic act. An extreme is close to winning and I do not want to see any extreme in power”, justifies a 25-year-old voter, on the forecourt of the Halle aux Toiles. She made the trip from Caen, where she now lives, especially to go and vote, she who is still on the electoral lists of Alençon.

The strong mobilization is also felt at the polling station at the Molière school, in the Perseigne district. One of those with the highest abstention in each election in Alençon. “There are more voters, more proxies. There is always a little current. We had people who had not voted for a very long time,” informs Nathalie-Pascale Assier, deputy mayor, who manned the office all day.

Aborted vacation to vote

A 22-year-old voter was among those who went to the polls. A step that he had not taken in 2022. “Without being alarmist, the current situation is scary,” he confides. “All elections are important, but here we are at a turning point. A far-right party is close to power. History has shown us that this is dangerous for democracy. »

Used to going to vote, Ginette, 85, is delighted to see the participation figures on the rise: “It’s nice to see that people understand that you have to vote. » She aborted her vacation so she could go vote. “It’s the future of France that is at stake!” »

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