Will the Bretons go to vote this year in the legislative elections? There is nothing to know. On the other hand, we know that, in the past, Bretons went to the polls more than the average French person.
A weaker breakthrough in abstention in Brittany
This rule has been applied for over thirty years during legislative elections. In 1993, 71% of Bretons voted in the first round of the legislative elections compared to around 69% of French people. Since then, this two-point gap has widened. In 2022, despite the record abstention, the participation rate in Brittany remained more than five points higher than the French rate (53% compared to 47.5%). In the 2022 legislative elections, Brittany was also at the top of the regions that voted the most.
In other elections, the observation is the same. In the European elections, on June 9, and in the 2022 presidential elections, the participation rate was also five points higher in Brittany.
Another criterion to observe: the regularity of voting during successive elections, as in 2022 when presidential and legislative elections took place one after the other (two rounds each time). Nearly four out of ten Bretons voted in each round, according to INSEE, placing Brittany in second position among the regions to have voted systematically (after Nouvelle-Aquitaine).
Sociology, territory… Reasons for participation
The reasons for this higher participation? Some answers can be found in sociology: the region has characteristics favorable to participation (high average age, low level of social inequalities). Other reasons are linked to geography: the rural environments and medium-sized towns, which make up Brittany, are conducive to participation. Especially since, “this rurality is not deserted or abandoned, or, in any case, less than elsewhere”, declared Christian Le Bart, political scientist and professor at Sciences Po Rennes, in our columns in 2022 .
