Voting on Sunday at the City Hall in Versailles, France. Credit … Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
VERSAI, France – It is said that the French vote with their hearts in the first round and with their heads in the second.
But voters in various cities near Paris seem to have used both when voting on Sunday, another proof that the two-round voting system is unusually conducive to strategic thinking.
Twelve candidates were on the ballot. But with polls showing the second round is likely to be a rematch between President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, voters are already thinking about the April 24 clash.
In Versailles, the center of the conservative Roman Catholic vote, center-right candidate Valerie Pecres was the local favorite. But it was single-digit in most polls.
After a mayoral vote, a couple who gave only their first names – Carl, 50 and Sophie, 51 – said they voted for Eric Zemmour, a far-right television expert who runs an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim campaign.
“I am in favor of selective immigration, instead of the current situation in which we have immigrants seeking to take advantage of the French system,” said Carl, who works in real estate. He added that he voted for Mr Macron in 2017, but was disappointed with the president’s immigration policy and his failure to review the pension system.
This time, he and Sophie, a legal adviser, said they would support Ms Le Pen in the run-off because they believe she has won the trust.
For Gregoire Pique, 30, an environmental engineer, his choice was Yannick Jado, the Greens’ candidate. But as Mr Jado sank into the polls, Mr Pique backed longtime leftist Jean-Luc Melanchon, who ranked third in most polls.
In the second round, Mr Pique said he planned to reluctantly vote for Mr Macron to block Ms Le Pen.
“I don’t like that principle,” he said, “but I will.”
About 10 miles from Versailles, in Trapp, a working-class city with a large Muslim population, similar calculations were made.
A voter voting on Sunday in Trapp, France. Credit … Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times
Jorge Savoni, 64, a retired transport worker, said he voted with all his heart for Ms Pecres, even though he knew she had little chance of qualifying for the second round. In two weeks, he said, he plans to vote reluctantly for Mr Macron, as well as to stop Ms Le Pen.
“I agree with most of Macron’s economic programs and I think he has done very well with the pandemic,” Mr Savoni said. “But I feel that he does not respect people and that he is arrogant.
University student Bilel Ayed, 22, wanted to support a flawed left-leaning candidate, but backed Mr Melenchon, the leading candidate on the left. In the second round, he said, although he believed that Mrs Le Pen, as president, would be much worse for France than Mr Macron, he was unable to forgive the president for what he said. that it is the suppression of personal freedoms, such as the forcible suppression of the anti-government movement of the yellow vests.
“I will not vote in the second round,” he said. “I’m staying home.”
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