A municipal employee participates in the installation of a polling station, at the town hall of Perpignan, on April 7, 2022. RAYMOND ROIG / AFP It is perhaps in these territories that the second round of the presidential election is being played out . In this France where the electoral protest reached peaks on April 10. In Aisne, Pyrénées-Orientales, Moselle or Bouches-du-Rhône, people clearly no longer believe in government parties, or even in the political system. In these departments, seven to eight out of ten voters expressed themselves in the first round, either by voting for a candidate strongly contesting the established order and the way in which politics has been conducted in France for decades (Marine Le Pen, Jean-Luc Mélenchon , Eric Zemmour or even Jean Lassalle); either by voting blank; or by abstaining. If we include the vote in favor of the communist Fabien Roussel and the invalid votes, it is 78.6% of the citizens registered on the electoral lists of the Pyrénées-Orientales who have expressed their dissatisfaction or their indifference. The rate is 77.4% in Bouches-du-Rhône, 77.3% in Aisne, 76.4% in Haute-Marne or 75.6% in Moselle. Certainly, as political scientist Dominique Reynié, professor at Sciences Po Paris, reminds us, the trend is national since this “France of the no” today brings together 55.6% of voters who vote, and 68% of registered voters. And the notion of electoral protest conceals many nuances. Read also: Abstention in the first round of the 2022 presidential election: six maps and graphs to understand “Whether we vote for a protest party or abstain, the motivations are not always the same, underlines Jérôme Fourquet, director from the opinion and business strategies department of the IFOP. Among the abstentionists, there are people left behind who are not interested in politics. They are different from the zemmourists who watch CNews on repeat. And certain voters of Marine Le Pen or Jean-Luc Mélenchon choose these candidates by adherence to the ideas or programs defended, and not only to express a disenchantment or a refusal of the system. Rejection of institutions But the work of Dominique Reynié, also managing director of the Foundation for Political Innovation, a “liberal, progressive and European” think tank, clearly shows that for thirty years, a disgusted or angry France has increasingly expressed more strongly with each election his dissatisfaction. In 1970, the American researcher Albert Hirschman wrote that disgruntled citizens choose one of these behaviors: acceptance of the status quo and resigned participation (loyalty), protest and anger (voice) or disinterest ( exit). In the territories where the electoral protest is the strongest, abounds Jérôme Fourquet, “a disinterest in politics and a very strong protest combine. This can be of a social nature, especially among the modest electorate, or political if we support more radical solutions than those of the government parties”. The “very pronounced” rejection of politicians and parties does not spare the institutions. You have 66.01% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.