Between June 6-9, 2024, more than 400 million European citizens went to vote for the new members of the
, based in Strasbourg, France. Member states are assigned a share of the total seats available, based on their
. For example, for the 2024 election,
European elections in France
Historically, European elections provoked far less interest from French citizens, compared to National Presidential elections. Indeed, in the last European Parliament election of June 2024, the
turnout of registered voters was around 51.5 percent, compared with almost
74 percent of registered voters voting in the French Presidential election of 2022 when Emmanuel Macron was re-elected against Marine Le Pen. However, in a survey conducted in 2024, French people justified their lack of interest in the European election with different arguments. For instance,
they stated that these elections would not impact their situation or that absenteeism demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the political parties. Therefore, this absenteeism trend was expected to remain during the elections of June 2024, with only
around 45 percent of French people intending to vote, according to a survey conducted in April 2024.
Rise of far-right during European elections
According to the polls, among the French who planned to vote, a significant number of voters were expected to
vote for far-right parties, and more specifically to the Rassemblement National, the historic party of the Le Pen family. For instance,
40 percent of 50-59-year-old's advised that they were likely to vote for the nationalist party. This situation currently benefits the
popular image of the party's 28-year-old leader for the upcoming election, Jordan Bardella. This trend is not isolated to France, and has been happening in other European countries, where the far-right scores in major elections are on the rise. France was already in the
top five countries with the most votes for populist and nationalist parties along with Hungary, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom, in the 2019 European Parliament election. Moreover, when asked about the main issues the European Parliament should consider as a priority for the upcoming years,
European citizens believed poverty and social exclusion were two issues to highly prioritize. Meanwhile,
French citizens first voiced their preoccupation with the migration crisis, which is one the most prominent topics of the Rassemblement National in France, and more generally of far-right affiliated parties in Europe. After the
results of the 2024 elections were shared, the Rassemblement National realized an historical score and secured 30 seats in the Parliament, more than twice the number of seats secured by Emmanuel Macron's party.
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