Can Forthcoming Presidential Elections Can Change The Future Of Europe?

French citizens in India say the forthcoming presidential elections can change the future of Europe

- Cithara Paul

They say the second round of presidential elections on May 7 will be the “next revolution” for France. That it will cause an upheaval, which can change the future of not just France, but entire Europe. When voters line up in France to be part of this crucial election, there will also be similar queues in the southern tip of India.

The French nationals in Puducherry, too, will be exercising their voting rights, just as they did on April 23 in the first round.

Puducherry has 4,648 French citizens, who are the descendants of those who opted for French nationality when France transferred its territorial rights of Pondicherry, Yanam, Mahe and Karaikal to India in 1962. And, like the voters in France, the voters here, too, have different favourites and ideologies. But they all agree that the coming elections would be a turning point for France. “The result will determine the future of France and the European Union,” said Joseph Elizabeth, who works at the French school in Pondicherry.

“I read Le Figaro, a French newspaper, every day and watch news on Arte TV and TV5,” said Elizabeth, who was born and brought up in France. Her favourites are Emmanuel Macron, the upstart centrist, and Marine Le Pen, the charismatic leader of the far right National Front, the two candidates who topped the first round polls and will contest the final round on May 7. The Socialist and Republican parties which have been ruling France since 1958 have gone out in the first round itself.