French voters already cast their ballots in the first round of the presidential elections on April 23, ousting the leftist favorite Jean-Luc Mélenchon despite his promising exit poll results, and bidding adieu to the center-right Republican candidate François Fillon. This weekend, on May 7, France must now decide between the far-right Marine Le Pen and the young center-left Emmanuel Macron, a former banker strongly by big business. Last week, Le Pen resigned the leadership of her party, National Front, ostensibly in order to focus on the elections.

To many, the fate of France, and the European Union itself, hangs in the balance. The primary question is: Will France follow Britain and the United States in electing a xenophobic, anti-globalist future in the form of Le Pen, or will voters stay the course and maintain their country's open democratic tradition and core place in the European Union. Occupy.com spoke to six French voters – both living in France, and outside it – to gauge the sense of anxiety and anticipation ahead of Sunday's vote.

Hillary

Hillary lives in Northeast France, which she describes as “strong Le Pen territory”. She voted for Mélenchon but says, “I’m relieved it’s not a choice between Fillon and LePen in the second round. I don't agree that Mélenchon did badly; he got the same score as Fillon who was tipped to be president a few weeks back, and he got his own best score.”

Hillary is, however, unlike a number of Mélenchon voters, determined to try and get Macron into power. “I would also quote a young Mélenchon voter I spoke to who said he wouldn't vote in the second round because it was a choice between ‘hate and finance,’” she said. “I personally would choose finance over hate any time, so I'll be voting for the ‘child banker’. I think most of the left-wing votes that Macron will pick up are ‘anything but LePen’ votes. I think any new arrangement of political forces is up for grabs. But there is a long history in France of a fractured and in-fighting left-wing.”

Abigail

Abigail, a translator living in Brittany, said, “I did not agree with all of Mélenchon’s policies and perceived reticence around the Europe issue, but hoped he could make a change, so I voted for him. Macron was a favorite in the media and Mélenchon the outsider. So many scare stories were run about him and the consequences of voting for him. Also the left was very divided, so I knew there was little chance he would get through.”

Abigail too hopes that Macron will secure the presidency. “We will stop Le Pen getting through and then get ready to oppose [Macron] in the legislative elections and in the street,” she said. “Many people are aware that Le Pen is as establishment as they get, as is Macron. With the failure of both major parties in these elections there is going to be a serious reshaping of the political landscape, but no union, other than the one to keep Le Pen away. Is the left ready to re-shape itself from its defunct ‘socialist’ garb that just failed miserably with [François] Hollande, and refashion itself into a more pragmatic body willing to work with centrist forces like Macron in order to defeat the far-right?”

Thomas

Thomas lives in Brussels, the seat of European "democracy". As an 18-year old with French citizenship, he just voted for the first time in the French elections. “I voted for Mélenchon,” he revealed. “It wasn’t a surprise to me that Le Pen passed the second round. The biggest surprise was all those people who voted for a pro-Eurocrat who has the same kind of ideology as the last president. I believe most or at least many of the people yet again haven't voted for the ideologies of the person, but the person him/herself. Mélenchon had the most humanist ideologies and the best ideas in terms of agricultural and anti-military policies. Fillon had a very hard time during his campaign.”

Cecile

Cecile is a London-based librarian. She voted last month for Macron. “I am very worried that Le Pen got through to the second round and worried about what will happen next,” she said. “The polls have been so wrong recently with both Brexit and Trump, so I didn’t want any false hopes. I would have much preferred a Mélenchon/Macron result but unfortunately that was not to be the case.”

Cecile said the potentially negative implications of Le Pen resigning her position as leader of the National Front were dubious at best. “It doesn’t change her views or her messages and I imagine it will just be a temporary move to give her extra votes whilst she continues to campaign. For me she will always be the face of the National Front and, like the U.K. since June, I fear that her growing popularity will bring more divisions and will make racism and xenophobia much more openly acceptable.”

Cecile said she sees Macron’s election as a strong security blanket in terms of being allowed to stay in Brexit U.K. “Macron has been very vocal in his pro-Europe stance. Currently my worst scenario would be to lose my access to E.U. rights and my freedom of movement between both the country where I have lived my whole adult life and my country of birth. I cannot pretend that I have always been involved or interested in French politics until recently, as I am more directly affected on a daily basis by U.K. politics. However, this election has been very different.”

Philippe Marlière

Philippe Marlière, a professor of French and European politics at University College London, said, “It’s a bit of a sensitive issue if you’re on the left in France. There were very high hopes in the last days of the campaign that Mélenchon would eventually make it to the second round because there was tremendous momentum in the lead-up to the election. There was less than 2% of the vote between him and Le Pen in the end. I believe that the fact that he didn’t make an alliance with the other left-wing candidates was a contributing factor in him not reaching the second round. But he was keen to go it alone and that’s how he played it.”

Marlière said he will also grudgingly vote for Macron, as he sees it as the only option. “Now we have to choose between a neo-liberal and a fascist,” he said. “I am personally going to vote for Macron but not because I am backing the man at all. If you’re faced with a stark choice between two people you dislike then you have to realize one is far worse than the other. Le Pen might just manage to get in. Then the people on the left who didn’t vote will be crying and saying ‘What happened? Let’s take to the streets!’ and they might do that for one evening and have a few scuffles with police, but the police will of course side with the person in power.”

David Bell

David Bell, a professor of French government and politics at the University of Leeds, said, “Mélenchon came through from the back of the field and did a lot better than many people thought he would. However, although Macron is a very strong favorite, he could very easily drop the ball between now and May 7. It’s something he would definitely be capable of. Le Pen is reinforcing the National Front at national level when it’s already strong at local level.”

Bell agreed that a large abstention is likely in the second round – but is adamant that the French assembly elections in June, which will see the election of a new prime minister, are far more important than the presidential elections. “Macron hasn’t really enthused people. He’s just not the other one. But the French president doesn’t have much power – they’re there to open flower shows. The question is what will happen at the assembly elections. It looks like the French Socialist Party has completely collapsed, so it could do worse than it did in 1993, which is the last time it melted down. It could end up with only 50 seats or so. The trouble with Macron is that Macron is an individual candidate and has no party backing. That leaves you with the French left reduced to a minority and split three ways, between the French socialists, Mélenchon and Macron. It will be dispersed. It does look as if it’s going to be quite a substantial humiliation for the French left across the board.”

As of the time of writing, Ifop Opinion placed Macron at 60% in the polls and Le Pen at 40%. However, a growing campaign is encouraging Mélenchon supporters to cast a “vote blanc” and spoil their ballots, with the use of Twitter hashtags #VoteBlanc and #SansMoiLe7Mai (“May 7 Without Me”) gaining popularity. Mélenchon has flown in the face of French left-wing tradition and declined to publicly endorse Macron, even if it will keep Le Pen from power. The danger that Le Pen will dismantle Macron’s campaign and capitalize on the politics of fear is becoming more of a threat by the day, mirroring Donald Trump’s last-minute race to victory.

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