Published
More than 230,000 French people chose this Saturday to decide between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. In the second round, the participation rate will be higher than in the first round.
The Palais des Congrès de Montreal has become a polling station for French foreigners.
REUTERS
Many did not vote in the first round, but moved to the second round to decide between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen: French foreigners in North America slipped their ballots into the ballot boxes for Saturday’s presidential election. French, a day earlier in France. More than 130,000 French people are registered to vote in the United States, and more than 100,000 in Canada.
In the first round, Washington’s constituency – which includes five U.S. states and the nation’s capital – received only 30 percent of the vote. Two weeks ago, 65-year-old Christine Polillo, like many others interviewed by AFP in front of the French embassy, did not make the trip on this sunny Saturday morning.
The teacher, who has lived in Baltimore for 35 years, says he is in a tough campaign to “follow” because of the distance, with so many candidates he doesn’t know “really”. But he considers voting in the second round to be “very important, the way of feeling united with France.”
58% for Macron and 3% for Le Pen in the first round
“Even if we don’t, we worry,” promises 42-year-old Rachida Foucault, one of her two daughters, who arrived in a stroller. “I think they will return to France, so I want their future to be in good hands,” explains an International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist who has lived in the United States for eight years.
“I live far away, I’m agoraphobic, so I did not make it to the first round, but this time we had no choice.”
Fifty-eight percent of voters there voted for Emmanuel Macron two weeks ago, less than 3% for Marine Le Pen. Same sequence for all volumes in the United States, second place went to Jean-Luc Mன்சlenchon or Eric Jemmore.
“Choice is very important”
In Montreal, a long line of volunteers marched around the Palais des Congress early in the morning. Many were waiting with coffee in one hand and a book or telephone in the other. Claire Barsaq, 33, has lived in Montreal for 12 years. She did not make it to the first round due to nurse work. “But there I did not want to miss the second round. The choice is huge, ”he says.
“I live far away, I’m agoraphobic, so I did not make it to the first round, but this time we had no choice,” says Jean-Franோois Perichon, a 75 – year – old retired Quebec. 40 years. More than 67,000 French people are registered in Montreal. They had Jean-Luc Mலlenchon in the lead on the first lap. In France, voters will go to the polls on Sunday and the winner will be announced at 8 p.m.
(AFP)