Paris (AFP)

Voters out of duty, abstainers disappointed with politics, and a lack of information often pinned down: the French still massively shunned the ballot box on Sunday for the second round of regional and departmental elections.

The record abstention from the first round, which seems to be confirmed in the second (27.89% participation at 5:00 p.m., down 23 points compared to 2015), "that can only question us. that we do not manage to interest the voters? ", underlines the president of a polling station in Strasbourg, Françoise Schaetzel, a 69-year-old elected official, to AFP.

"I'm coming to vote, but it's no use," summarizes Hugues Hubert, 66, retired from the transport sector, soccer jersey on his shoulders, and none of the three children will travel.

"Vote for the presidential elections, okay, but for the departmental, we don't know anything. What are the candidates going to do? No idea."

Daniel, a 58-year-old housekeeper, says he "voted at random".

- Broken promises -

In another Strasbourg office, President Marina Lafay deplores "a kind of wandering on the part of certain voters, especially in relation to departmental", for which in the first round "some discovered the candidates on the table".

However, annoys Isabelle Courteau, a 51-year-old civil servant "inserted", "today with the internet, if you want to get information, it's easy!".

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"Not to vote is a denial of democracy", also launches, in Marseille, Thierry, a septuagenarian of the 5th arrondissement for whom however "perhaps young people need an alternative ..."

In Lille, in a polling station in the south of the city, Josiane Vanoverloop, 82, is part of the "generation used to going to vote" and has an explanation for abstention: "People are generally disgusted with politics : we are always told we are going to do this or that but once elected, they do not keep their promises ".

"People have had enough", also said in Dijon Alain Robiaud, but in Nice, Fabrice Chargelègue, retired, criticizes the French who "take the rights, but not the duties".

"The old people fought to have the right to vote and today the young people do nothing", plague Jean-Claude Berto, pensioner of 69 years, in Lyon.

In Nice, Rémi Marsal, 23 years old and who has just finished his architectural studies, evokes "a lack of information" and "efforts" on the part of politicians "to integrate into the young generation".

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"What is done for the area does not really concern me, I only live on Amazon", laughs Lucas Mailliet, a 24-year-old McDonald's employee, in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, in the suburbs of Grenoble , thinking that voters are called to vote Sunday for "the municipal".

But at his side, Marie Buisson, 25, a children's animator, voted after having conscientiously scrutinized the professions of faith of the candidates with her parents.

In Lyon, Quentin Guillon de Princé, 31, also came to the two towers because he "knows that the region has a certain power".

- France of the "Enlightenment" -

To ward off abstention, Christine, a forty-something person in charge of human resources, pleads in Marseille for "electronic voting".

Nicolas, a 57-year-old doctor in Strasbourg, said he would vote "maybe" if it was possible "by internet" and if the blank vote was taken into account.

But for the moment, he abstains, in particular because "the policies do not answer the questions".

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"If the candidates spoke to me a little more, I could vote, perhaps, but there, I can not identify myself with a person and even less with a political movement", abounds Pierre Kieffer, 31 years old, author illustrator.

Houssine Sbaï, 53, employed in the cosmetics industry, deplores the “amalgamations” of political debates on television, “on Islam, immigration”.

"The objective is to live together, and we have the impression that politicians are looking for the opposite. When I see the history of France, the Enlightenment, we are far from all that", regrets t -he.

© 2021 AFP