Our Internet users tell the first time they went to vote

• Only 49% of young people are sure to vote in the first round of the presidential election, and this figure drops to 44% among 18-22 year olds, according to our barometer OpinionWay –

  20 Minutes

  –

  Ouest France

  – Journals de Loire.

• Like all first times, the first vote can leave a lasting impression.

• The voting ceremony left its mark on some voters, who also expressed their pride in having taken part in democratic life for the first time.

• For others, it is the result that remains in memory, whether or not it was consistent with their vote.

Will the French, and especially young people, vote on April 10?

Less than two months before the first round of the presidential election, it is not won.

Only 49% of young people are indeed certain to move to the voting booths for the moment, according to our barometer #MoiJeune2022 OpinionWay –

–

– Journals of the Loire*.

And this figure drops to 44% among 18-22 year olds.

However, "having a voice that counts as much as anyone else's is still a strong feeling when you come out of adolescence", pleads David, who was able to vote for the first time during of the 2007 presidential election. Like all first times, the first vote can leave a lasting impression.

We therefore asked our Internet users to share their memories with us.

“I had taken my mother's voter card by mistake and I was turned away.

Shame,” Anita laughs yellow.

It must be said that electing a representative of the nation is a little more codified than a basket that passes between the tables for the election of class delegates.

So when facing the assessors for the first time, one can feel very small.

“Very intimidated, I didn't know what to do.

Two older people explained everything to me,” recalls Jean-Claude, 74.

Arthur, he was "afraid about silly things: the color of the pen I had to use to sign off, the way I had to fold my ballot to fit into the tiny envelope,

know if I had to put my ballot in the slot before the assessor pressed to drop it or if I had to wait for him to open the slot to put my ballot.

»

"Going into battle, ballot in hand"

But what this first-time voter of 2017 retains above all is a feeling of "pride" and the chance of having been able to "inaugurate [his] duty as a citizen and honor democracy by electing the person who will be at the top".

The words are strong, and we understand why when the young man specifies that he had actively participated in the campaign.

But without being an activist, you can believe in a candidate enough to have "the feeling of going to fight, the ballot in hand", like Doune, who voted for the first time in 2012.

Chance of the years of birth, some first times correspond to particularly significant elections in our political history.

For these first-time voters, a small feeling of "I was there" is then added.

Yves, 79, who says he is “still so proud to have voted for General de Gaulle when he was 21 in 1965, when for the first time the president was elected by the people”.

[Before the constitutional reform of 1962, the President of the Republic was elected by a college of electors.] Jean-Michel sees himself again with emotion participating in the victory of François Mitterrand in 1981. The first left-wing president and “ joy for all the workers”.

"Forty-one years later, I still haven't digested"

This election, on the other hand, left a bitter taste in Mireille, who was 24 years old in 1981. Right-wing electrician, she tried to look good with her husband in the midst of the inhabitants gathered in the bar of her small village of the Dome.

“People wanted to celebrate and here we are, with our daughter, for a meal in an inn.

We had to remain discreet about our political opinions throughout dinner.

And at the time of the addition, it was necessary to divide between the number of people, including our daughter, who obviously had not consumed alcohol.

Forty-one years later, I still haven't digested either Mitterrand's election or the hefty addition.

" So much memories !

* Barometer #MoiJeune 2022 OpinionWay –

20 Minutes – Ouest France

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• Elections

• MeYoung

• Abstention

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• Presidential election 2022

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