Lisieux and a Bureau de Vote (Polling Booth)

It's the day after the French elections, the day after Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen for the second time in five years. And although it was a very clear win, it certainly wasn't the crushing defeat of five years ago. Five years is a long time, and many people have become very discontented with Macron, very many call him the president of the rich, as opposed to the right and the left that he said he would represent: he's also noted for his arrogance, which strongly manifested itself last Wednesday in his débat with Le Pen. Many other people just voted for Macron not because they like him, but because he's the lesser of two evils: it was a question of voting for the person you hate less, which surely has nothing to do with democracy. But Le Pen's extreme right-wing views, especially her attitude to immigrants, are justifiably obnoxious to many French people. The daily Libération newspaper today carried the headline 'Merci qui ?', plainly indicating its pleasure that Le Pen didn't succeed, but wondering who exactly had voted for Macron instead of not voting at all, or leaving a blank or spoiled paper. And Libé has certainly shown in the past that it favours the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came third but also (like Le Pen, but for very different reasons) had increased his number of votes: again, evident disappointment of five years of Macron.

But on to this abandoned bureau de vote/poll booth in Lisieux, Calvados. Just a tiny makeshift hut really, although the messages on the walls are interesting. 'Test salivaire' (saliver test) with Macron as a bull's eye may be a reminder of the 'passe sanitaire', but it's also an inevitable reminder of the clothes pegs a number of voters wore in the 2002 election, when the the right-wing Chirac stood in opposition to the older male Le Pen. The booth is also interesting in that it has a French translation of Benjamin Franklin's 'It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.' Another label in the booth says 'Ce sticker sera plus difficile à enlever que vos libertés' ('This sticker will be more difficult to remove than your liberties'.) The next five years will be very interesting, and very trying, for Macron. Mélenchon's LFI (La France Insoumise) is gaining ground increasingly, particularly among the dispossessed young.